Duplantier reflects on whirlwind 36 hours, postgame celebration

Monday’s are usually a downer for most people.

But if you’re name’s Jon Duplantier, Monday may be the best day of the week.

After being called up to the majors prior to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ game against the San Diego Padres, pitcher Jon Duplantier got his first taste of MLB action Monday.

It was a crazy 36 hours for the MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 prospect in the D-backs’ farm system, as he was ready to start the season with the Triple-A Reno Aces.

“I was very prepared, I just got out to Reno,” Duplantier told Burns & Gambo on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station on Tuesday. “I had my first start date [with the Aces] and everything, we already bought flights to Reno and we expected to take that path.”

“When the D-backs called me, I was in the hotel lobby in Reno,” Duplantier added. “There were hundreds of people around and I probably spent three or four minutes just crying by myself in the lobby and all these people just wondering what the heck was going on. Did I just lose my money or what?”

Next up, call the parents.

But while dad wasn’t near the phone, mom sure was.

“All the emotions that I kinda thought I already had taken care of came back ten-fold and I actually scared the mess out of my parents. I was yelling and hyperventilating and you could hear the tears through the phone,” Duplantier said after getting ahold of his parents.

“I told them ‘your son is going to be a big leaguer’ and there was nothing but screaming and jumping. I could feel them jumping. It was amazing, I’ll never forget that.”

With emotions running high, and in his first MLB game, there was no way Duplantier could help the team, right?

Wrong.

The pitcher shined as Duplantier tossed three scoreless innings, helping Arizona take a 10-3 win over the Padres, while earning his first save in the process.

And just like the performance on the mound, Duplantier received a celebration from the team he is surely never going to forget.

First MLB win + First MLB save = Double beer shower@Mert_723 | @dup_thereitis | #RattleOn pic.twitter.com/1ghZGcjdhX

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 2, 2019

Duplantier wasn’t the only pitcher involved in the beer/powder/mouthwash shower as starting pitcher Merrill Kelly also made his MLB debut, picking up his first win.

“What I realized is, they don’t tell you what they’re going to pour on you, so you just feel cold,” Duplantier said of the postgame celebration. “As it’s going down you’re trying to guess what it is and it wasn’t until the mouthwash got in my mouth that I realized I was getting a nice bacterial cleanse.”

From Reno to San Diego to a mouthwash bath. What a series of events for the pitcher.

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