Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis is nursing an injured shoulder and is therefore unable to play baseball at the moment. So while his teammates flew to Texas to take on the Rangers on Opening Day, he stayed behind in Arizona, where the team held Spring Training.
And since Kipnis couldn’t be playing anyway, and since Monday was his birthday, he treated himself to the NCAA Tournament title game between North Carolina and Gonzaga in Glendale.
But that certainly didn’t stop him from keeping up with his teammates in Arlington. Kipnis posted a photo of his multi-tasking to Instagram, with the caption, “Celebrating my birthday at the National Championship game!….. but watching my guys on the @mlb app! #EE just tied it up!!!”
This Instagram post should really be sponsored by the MLB At Bat app.
Kipnis was probably the only fan at University of Phoenix Stadium watching the Indians and Rangers instead of paying attention to a national title game that was close until the final seconds.
Cleveland came back from down 5-1 to beat Texas 8-5, thanks to home runs from Jose Ramirez and newcomer Edwin Encarnacion and three scoreless innings from the bullpen. And Kipnis got to see the national title game, in which the Tar Heels eked by the Bulldogs 71-65.
It was surely a happy birthday indeed.
