How about a walk-off inside-the-park home run to cap off your baseball viewing for the day?
That’s exactly what the San Francisco Giants’ Patrick Bailey did late into the night on Tuesday, July 8. With his team trailing the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bailey hit a long drive off Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano that struck the brick wall in right-center field. The ball did a crazy carom off the asymmetrical outfield wall at Oracle Park and rolled down the warning track as Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh frantically gave chase.
Take a look at this thrilling finish:
A leadoff double by Casey Schmitt followed by a single by Wilmer Flores set the stage for Bailey’s dramatic heroics, which delivered a 4-3 victory. The win was the Giants’ fourth straight, lifting the team’s record to 51-42, good for second in the NL West and just five games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have lost five straight.
Bailey’s walk-off inside-the-parker was reminiscent of one hit by the Giants’ Ángel Pagán in the same ballpark in 2013. Pagán hit his walk-off home run in the 10th inning against the Colorado Rockies. Pagán’s batted ball took a similar trajectory as Bailey’s hit, bouncing off the right-center field wall and rolling down the warning track as outfielders gave chase after the unexpected bounce.
The most recent walk-off inside-the-park home run happened on Aug. 19, 2016, when Cleveland’s Tyler Naquin hit one against the Toronto Blue Jays.
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