Patrick Bailey’s entrance into the MLB record books on Tuesday night began with a tight swing that sent a fastball from Phillies reliever Jordan Romano into Triples Alley.
It ended with Bailey chugging his way around third base then getting mobbed at home plate by his teammates after becoming the third catcher in major league history to hit a game-ending, inside-the-park home run.
The three-run shot had an exit velocity of 166.4kph and bounced off the brick wall at the Giants waterfront ballpark. It ricocheted back toward center field as Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh gave chase.
Photo: AP
Bailey said his initial thought was to get a triple before he saw third base coach Matt Williams waving him in.
“Off the ball I just knew I got it well,” Bailey said. “I saw it was towards Triples Alley and I was like: ‘Oh I gotta go. I at least gotta get to third.’ Once I saw the bounce, I was like: ‘All right, just don’t fall over.’”
It was also the first time in nearly nine years that a player has hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run in the majors.
Photo: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images / USA Today
The three-run home run lifted the Giants to a 4-3 victory that had the Oracle Park crowd roaring as Bailey crossed the plate.
“Tired,” Bailey said when asked how he felt. “I wished it would have gone over the fence.”
In Milwaukee, Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, but the Brewers’ rookie phenom got the last word.
After allowing Ohtani’s 131.4m blast, Misiorowski responded with another dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — including two-way superstar Ohtani in the third inning — to lead the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“It’s Shohei Ohtani,” Misiorowski said. “You kind of expect [that]. It’s cool to see him do it in action, but it fires me up even more coming back the next at-bat and striking him out. I’m right there. I think it was a moment of like: ‘OK, now we go.’”
Misiorowski also outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts in his previous outing. Asked Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw said he only knew that the 2m-tall right-hander throws hard.
“I know him now, huh?” Kershaw said on Tuesday. “That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. Everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball. I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”
Elsewhere, the Detroit Tigers mauled the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2, the New York Mets survived the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 in 10 innings, the New York Yankees drowned the Seattle Mariners 10-3, the Boston Red Sox toppled the Colorado Rockies 10-2 and the Miami Marlins devastated the Cincinnati Reds 12-2.
The Kansas City Royals pipped the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3, the Minnesota Twins dominated the Chicago Cubs 8-1, the Toronto Blue Jays outplayed the Chicago White Sox 6-1 in a game shortened to seven innings due to rain and the St Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 4-2.
The Cleveland Guardians fought past the Houston Astros 10-6 in 10 innings, the Texas Rangers shot down the Los Angeles Angels 13-1, the San Diego Padres blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 and the Athletics pounded the Atlanta Braves 10-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS