Luke Reilly (Tampa Bay Race) achieved a lucky pinch-hitter inside the park home run (ground home run) thanks to the batted ball that bounced twice after hitting the fence.
On the 17th (Korean time), in an away 토토사이트 game against the San Francisco Giants held at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, USA, Rayleigh stepped in as a pinch hitter with no runners in the top of the 6th inning when the team was leading 5-0.
Faced with opposing relief pitcher Ross Stripling, Rayleigh countered the first pitch slider. The batted ball went straight into the outfield.
At this time, a rare scene was created.
The ball hit the top of the right fence and bounced off the bottom left, hitting the top of the middle fence again and bouncing.
Then, while San Francisco right fielder Michael Conforto and center fielder Wade Meckler followed to catch the ball that fell into the ground, Rayleigh had already returned home from second and third base.
The pinch hit inside the park home run is the first record for the Tampa Bay team.
MLB.com pointed out, “The ball Rayleigh sent deep in the middle would have easily crossed the fence if it flew 425 feet (about 130 m) as Statcast predicted. But not at Oracle Park.”
Oracle Park has a rather unique outfield structure. The right wall from home plate is short at 94m, and the middle right is also called ‘triple alley’. Instead, the right wall is rather high. The middle right fence is 6m high, and the right fence is 7m high.
USA Today wrote about this scene, “It usually takes a lot of speed and a little luck to hit an inside-the-park home run in the major leagues, but Rayleigh had a special luck.”
Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash described Reilly’s batting as “like a rat running over the fence.”
Teammate Brandon Lowe likened the batted ball to “a squirrel and a cat jumping over a wall” and said, “I want to know how long the ball stays on the wall, because it felt like it was stuck to the wall forever. ) I didn’t know if it would pass or come back, but it ended well in the end.”
Rayleigh smiled broadly at the first record in the major leagues, saying, “It’s the first time I’ve hit an inside-the-park home run since Little League.”