Dr. Anthony Fauci Explains His 1st Pitch at MLB Season Opener

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday his wild first pitch before MLB's season-opening game between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals last week came from a combination of a long layoff from throwing a baseball and limited preparation.

Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and noted Nationals fan, discussed the experience with Pablo Torre on the ESPN Daily podcast (h/t TMZ Sports).

"I had been practicing for two days before, at a walk down that I thought was 60 feet, but it was really probably 45 feet," he said. "I was throwing and throwing and throwing and I got it right but only it was at 45 feet. And I kind of hurt my arm because I haven't thrown a baseball literally in decades."

Fauci explained his arm was still hurting when he arrived at Nationals Park, but he decided to go through with his commitment.

"So, as I was getting ready to go out on the mound, my arm was killing me—but I said hell, I could suck it up and just throw it the way I had been practicing," he told Torre. "... I said, 'Oh my God, Sean Doolittle looked like he was 200 feet away!"

The resulting throw was wide and short, forcing Doolittle, a Nats pitcher who served as catcher for the occasion, to chase down the ball.

"I wound up and threw it like a bullet, only it just went way off to the left," Fauci said on ESPN Daily. "So it was my bad, all the way."

MLB is playing a shortened 60-game regular season amid the coronavirus pandemic.