The highlight of the night took place after the Reds beat the Pirates

Recently, Jacob Hurtubise’s wife, Grace, came up with the idea to do the gender reveal for their first child after Friday night’s game against the Pirates. Jacob Hurtubise wasn’t planning to tell his teammates. He ended up mentioning it to Spencer Steer.

Then, according to Hurtubise, Spencer Steer yelled out to the entire dugout, “Hey Hurt, what time is your gender reveal?”

All of a sudden, teammates were running up to Hurtubise and asking, “You’re having a gender reveal tonight?”

Around 9:10 on Friday night, following a 5-3 win over the Pirates, essentially the entire Reds’ team watched the gender reveal take place on the field at Great American Ball Park. Grace soft-tossed a ball in Hurtubise’s direction, and when he swung at it, the ball exploded to reveal the color pink.

Jacob and Grace are having a girl.

“I didn’t know it would be all of those people out there,” Jacob Hurtubise said. “I didn’t tell anybody coming into tonight. It’s super special. Grace and I were so excited to start our family. Come October, we’re going to be ready. Hopefully, we’ve got a postseason run and I’m here trying to help the team win. We’re super excited, and it’s super special.”

Grace’s pitch wasn’t great. “It was a really hard flip,” said Blake Dunn, one of the many teammates who were there for it. The ball went up past Hurtubise’s shoulder.

“I had to get my hands inside of the ball,” Hurtubise said.

The irony here is that Hurtubise, an undrafted free agent from the 2020 draft class, is in the big leagues because he can hit that exact pitch.

Hurtubise doesn’t hit for power. What Terry Francona likes most about Hurtubise’s game is that he has a short, compact swing and makes a lot of contact.

Hurtubise’s postgame swing on the pitch from Grace was his most meaningful yet in a Reds uniform.

“He somehow managed to spin and turn and hit it,” Dunn said. “If anyone was going to hit that pitch, it was him. I’m super excited for them. I’m sure they’re both super excited. I’m sure it was awesome for him seeing the support of the guys. Jacob and Grace are both great people. I’m excited for them. Just a really cool moment.”

Hurtubise was one of the last guys to make the Reds’ Opening Day roster. He has the fewest plate appearances of any player who started the season on the active big league roster, and he has been a pinch hitter, defensive replacement and a pinch-runner. He has done a nice job so far, reaching base on four of his 10 plate appearances and making a game-saving catch to end the Reds’ win last Monday.

If the Reds’ front office made a different decision at the end of spring training and didn’t put Hurtubise on the big league roster, then he never would have had this moment on the field on Friday under the lights at Great American Ball Park with Elly De La Cruz, Hunter Greene and a whole lot of teammates and close friends watching.

“Just a super special moment,” Hurtubise said.