With Jake Arrieta on the mound soon to be doing Jake Arrieta things, I wouldn’t say the game felt over after Kyle Schwarber dumped one into left to score Dexter Fowler in the top of the first inning last night. I would, however, say that it felt pretty close to over when he did this two innings later:
The sound you hear just as Schwarber leans and flicks his bat is the crackle associated with tens of thousands of Pirates’ fans’ hearts fraying and breaking.
That ball was absolutely destroyed, coming off the bat at 111.3 mph, according to Statcast, and traveling 450 feet into the dark.
I’ll admit that I had some questions about starting Schwarber in right field in the game, defensively-speaking, given the importance of every single run. But that’s why you do it. His bat can, and did, change the game.
And now you may watch on an infinite loop:
#RookiesWhoRake. http://t.co/iU3jXxWCrX https://t.co/LY30NaFhmG #OwnOctober
— MLB (@MLB) October 8, 2015