Tampa Bay Rays' Luke Raley hits unique inside-the-park HR, ball bounces off top of wall
It usually takes a lot of speed and some luck to hit an inside-the-park home run in Major League Baseball, but Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Luke Raley got one-of-a-kind type of luck against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.
With Tampa Bay up 5-0 in the top of the sixth with one out and the bases empty, Raley came in as a pinch hitter for Jose Siri. He took a Ross Stripling pitch into Oracle Park's triples alley for what was destined for an extra-base hit.
But as the baseball bounced off the brick wall in right field, something miraculous happened: the ball bounced on top of the center field wall, and took another bounce off of it as it moved toward left field, confusing Giants right fielder Michael Conforto and center fielder Wade Meckler. Raley hustled around the bases, and by the time Meckler was able to get to the ball, Raley was already rounding third base and was able to cruise into home plate for the unique inside-the-park home run. MLB.com reported Raley made it around the bases in 15.3 seconds.
The homer helped the Rays win, 6-1, in the series finale in San Francisco.
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