Peralta goes full steam for inside-the-park HR

PHOENIX -- The offense's floodgates opened for the D-backs during a 6-2 win over the Cubs at Chase Field on Saturday night, and David Peralta put the finishing touch on the victory with an inside-the-park home run in the eighth.
Peralta lit into a 95.2 mph first-pitch fastball from Justin Grimm with two outs and drilled it off the wall in left-center field. Statcast™ tracked Peralta's hit at 102.6 mph off the bat, with an 83 percent chance of landing for a hit.
When the ball struck the wall and bounced away from Cubs center fielder Jon Jay, it was full speed ahead for Peralta, whom teammates fondly refer to as "Freight Train" -- a nickname he will wear on the back of his uniform for Players Weekend.
"I was just running hard the whole way," Peralta said. "When I saw it hit the wall, I thought, 'OK, I better go.' For the first moment, I thought, 'OK, triple.' But then I took a peek and saw (third-base coach Tony Perezchica) sending me home, and I was like, 'Oh man, I'm out of gas.' So I didn't slide into home plate, I just laid myself down. I was out of breath. But it was good, it feels good. I've never done it before, it was my first time, but that was a pretty special moment for me."
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Peralta's inside-the-parker was the 13th in franchise history and the second this season by a D-backs player. Ketel Marte had one in a July 26 win over the Braves.
"He gave it everything he had," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "I saw the ball bounce off of the wall and then I looked at him, and he was just about to second base and he was moving pretty good, so I think he was sniffing an inside-the-park home run. Little dramatic, I know, it's a play you don't see very often."
It marked the fourth time that Peralta has homered in back-to-back games in his career and the second time this season.
Peralta's inside-the-park homer was the first the Cubs have allowed since since April 7, 2016, which also came against the D-backs (Jean Segura). That was also the play on which Kyle Schwarber suffered two torn knee ligaments, which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2016 regular season.