VIDEO: Hunter Pence Could Have Circled the Bases Twice on Bizarre Inside-the-Park Homer
By Kyle Koster
Not all home runs are created equal. A 500-foot bomb is just different than a 342-foot wall scraper. This is also true for inside-the-park jobs. Typically, it’s the most exciting play in baseball with a player sprinting around the bases after something has gone haywire out in the outfield.
Hunter Pence’s inside-the-parker against Boston last night at Fenway was atypical. And actually, against long odds, a bit boring.
The Rangers outfielder sliced a drive down the right-field line in the vicinity of a particularly pesky pole. Red Sox outfielder Brock Holt made a leaping attempt but missed the ball.
Then he just kind of stopped moving to take a rest with his arms over the fence like a horse-racing sourdough scouting a filly. It may not have made a difference if he tried to retrieve the ball but his choice not to try allowed Pence to casually make the 360-foot trek.
You’ll never see a more lackluster inside-the-park homer than this and you can thank angles. Just something for all the kids who hate math out there to keep in mind when they think they’ll never have to use it in the real world.