NEWSLETTER
If I asked you to guess who’d hit the first walk-off home run of 2017, you’d be throwing darts in the dark, right?
What if I told you that it would take place at Boston’s Fenway Park? I bet with that knowledge, a heavy handful of names have popped into your head already. Yeah, well, I’m guessing catcher Sandy Leon was not one of them.
Jokes on you!
Put Sandy Leon in the Hall of Fame pic.twitter.com/6eVcZzPVYF
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) April 6, 2017
In a game that featured Chris Sale making his first start with the Red Sox, it was the catcher who made the biggest play of the evening.
With one out, two runners on, and facing a 0-1 count, Leon deposited a pitch from lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo and put it over the Green Monster in left to win the game. Which, lucky for him, because he was thrown out at the plate by about 10 miles earlier in the night.
Check out that homer again, but in slow-motion from the stands:
Sandy Leon's 12th inning walk-off three-run shot in Slo-Mo. Awesome crowd. pic.twitter.com/nujVF61rb3
— Nick Hamelin (@NickHamelin) April 6, 2017
Anyway, I promised you TWO extra-inning, walk-off home runs, didn’t I?
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A few hours later, George Springer wanted in on the fun, too:
#SpringerDinger to the MOON LET'S GOOOOO pic.twitter.com/t4kSe3K72h
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 6, 2017
It turned out to be a lucky bottom half of the 13th for the Houston Astros, who battled back from an early 2-0 and an extra-inning 3-2 deficit to win their third straight game with Springer’s shot into the Crawford Boxes (those Astros sure do love their monster home runs).
Houston was down to its last strike TWICE that inning before Springer’s blast put the Astros in the win column.
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But we all know that the real reason the Astros pulled off their victory was this very talented rally dance:
Rally dance or one of the five movements? Well, it's hard to say. pic.twitter.com/86AGZ8d63E
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 6, 2017
Happy Thursday!
Michael Cerami contributed to this post.
