This Has To Be the Baseballsiest Straight Steal of Home

Our titles are just chock-full full of puns today, aren’t they?

Somehow, this one feels a bit more earned. During the eighth inning of yesterday’s Padres/Pirates contest, Travis Jankowski broke from third on a straight steal of home … in between pitches … with the pitcher staring right at him. Now, don’t get me wrong, any straight steal of home requires nerves of steel, but Jankowski must have had some George Clooney at a singles-night level confidence to attempt something this obvious, probably stupid, and totally badass:

After a swing and miss, Pirates catcher Eric Fryer throws the ball back to pitcher Antonio Bastardo, just before Jankowski breaks for the plate. Bastardo rushes a throw back to Fryer, but it comes in low and Jankowski goes in standing up, taping the plate with his hand as he passes. With a half-way decent throw, he’s out by a mile, but that’s not what happened.

Jankowski won, and he earned it.