Last Night in Baseball: Red Sox win on the shortest walk-off homer... ever?

Fox Sports

2 days ago

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves.
That's why we're here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days' games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: The shortest walk-off homer maybe ever?
It's difficult to know, given how measurements over time have worked and records have been kept, just how long the longest home run in MLB history was, or just how short we're talking when we say shortest long ball. We do know about the Statcast era, though, from 2015 onward, and at least we know where the fences have historically been kept at MLB ballparks, too. Which means that we definitely just saw the shortest walk-off home run of the Statcast era per MLB, at minimum, and possibly the shortest walk-off homer ever.
Ceddanne Rafaela came up in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the Red Sox and Angels tied 9-9. Boston had already dropped the first two games of the series to Los Angeles — 7-6 and 4-3 — as their tumble down the standings continued. Rafaela would ensure the slide at least temporarily halted with one swing of the bat: 308 feet later, the Red Sox had won.
The right field foul pole at Fenway, nicknamed "Pesky's Pole" owing to former shortstop Johnny Pesky wrapping a few around the pole in his day, sits 302 feet from home plate. There aren't a lot of homers hit there annually, despite the short distance, given that the right field wall begins to take a sharp angle backward to the point that Fenway, historically and in the present, is a poor place for lefties to hit homers. Dead center is 389 feet, the furthest point of the field is 420 feet out, and the midpoint of the fence in right is 380 feet. All of this means it's actually as tough to hit a homer from the left side of the plate as it is for righties who have to contend with the 37-foot wall out in left field keeping them from hitting anything but towering fly balls over the fence. There's that tiny spot tucked away near the Pesky's Pole, though, where a ball can just, whoops, home run, and Rafaela found it at the best possible time.
This was the third homer Rafaela hit against the Angels in the series, with the other two going over the aforementioned Monster in left. More majestic homers they might have been, but this little one certainly counted for more. Both in the moment, and possibly historically, too. The Rockies swept the Marlins!
It's okay if you want to read that in Russ Hodges' "The Giants win the pennant!" voice, given the achievement certainly feels as monumental as Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" with how Colorado's season has gone outside of this series. But they did it! The Rockies faced the Marlins in three games, and they won all three. They're still on pace for a record 131 losses, and the Marlins are now on pace for an even 100 defeats owing to these defeats, but that's something to worry about later. Right now, the Rockies have not only won their first season series of the year, but earned their first sweep, too, and can go for their fourth win in a row on Friday against the… oh. The Mets. Holders of the best record in the National League, and looking to take three of four from the NL West-leading Dodgers on Thursday.
Listen, the important thing is that no one can take those wins away from you, Colorado, they are in the bank. Hey, that's still the basepath, it counts
Wyatt Langford faced a dilemma as he ran down to first base. The problem? The Rangers' left fielder had hit a ground ball to short, and was likely to be out at first until José Caballero's throw was off target enough to pull Jonathan Aranda off of the bag. Aranda was still in Langford's path, however, and while he was on the ground, that was going to be a problem. Langford couldn't go left, he couldn't go right, but he could go over. And so he did.
Beautiful form, just splendidly done. It's worth pointing out, too, that Langford was aware enough of what he was doing here as to make sure he landed on the bag with the front part of his foot, taking pressure off of both his ankle and his knee, and so that he could also easily bound past first base as if he had done it by running through the standard way. Aranda couldn't quite get the tag high enough from his position on the ground to nab Langford mid-hurdle, so instead, the Rangers got a baserunner.
Sure, the Rangers ended up losing to the Rays in the end, 5-4, but hey: hurdles. Alonso, take a bow
The aforementioned Mets already took two of the first three games of their four-game set with the Dodgers, but Wednesday's victory also gave them the season series over Los Angeles. And they can thank their pitching for that — starting pitcher Griffin Canning and the bullpen combined for nine 1-run innings with 10 strikeouts, one walk, and just six hits — but also Pete Alonso.
Alonso went deep not once , but twice . The first shot was enough to give the Mets the W, as the two-run homer put them up 3-0. The second one was just for emphasis, as it gave the Mets a 6-0 lead in the eighth inning. Alonso drove in five of New York's six runs on the night, and they'd end up winning 6-1.
Meanwhile… You flinched, Dodgers!
Now you have to marry your mother-in-law!
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