Watch: Detroit Tigers Struggling Reliever Throws Possibly Worst Pitch Ever Seen

The Detroit Tigers brought their struggling reliever into the game during the eighth inning.

Apr 27, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenta Maeda (18) throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth inning at Comerica Park. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers have gotten off to a tough start on their 10-game road trip, dropping each of the first two games against the Houston Astros on Monday and Tuesday night.

In both games, the Tigers were protecting a narrow lead before things fell apart in the sixth and seventh innings.

By the time the bottom of the eighth rolled around for the Astros, the contest was fairly close to being out of reach with Detroit trailing 6-2 and only having three more outs to mount a comeback on offense.

In what was effectively a waving of the white flag, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch put Kenta Maeda into the game despite the fact that he has been struggling mightily this season.

Even though Maeda has largely only pitched in low-leverage situations, he entered this series with an ERA of 9.00.

Things did not look much cleaner for the veteran on Tuesday even after he already got the first two outs without allowing a baserunner.

While facing Houston's leadoff hitter and shortstop Jeremy Pena, Maeda, on a 2-1 count, held onto the ball for too long and wound up delivering one of the worst pitches ever seen in a Major League Baseball game.

Just pure comedy pic.twitter.com/H120Z4g85d

— Tigers Torkmoil (@bythewaybro) April 30, 2025

On the very next pitch, Maeda -- who was clearly a bit rattled from the incredible misfire -- wound up hitting Pena to put him on first base.

To his credit, Maeda was able to bounce back and strike out Jose Altuve to earn what felt like his first scoreless inning in a very long time.

Despite throwing a pitch that looked a lot closer to an infamously poor celebrity first pitch than one from a longtime Major League hurler, he will likely take the scoreless inning and be satisfied with the overall performance.

The right-hander has now lowered his ERA on the season to a 7.88. With a career-high WHIP of 1.875, inflated by nine hits and six walks in just eight innings, it has been tough sledding for Maeda.

Understandably, Detroit is still trying to salvage any semblance of value from the lucrative contract they are paying him regardless of how many innings he has thrown.

With that being said, Maeda has not shown, to this point, that he is going to provide anything besides maybe an inning with the game.

That has been enough to keep him on the Tigers.

Whether or not that is still the case for the full season is certainly something that remains to be seen.