David Ortiz told an Orioles fan he was *this* close to hitting a dinger, then he hit a dinger
By
Chris Landers
David Ortiz has hit a lot of homers in his 20-year career: opposite-field homers, mammoth homers, clutch homers, even selfie homers -- 538 of them in all entering play on Tuesday. After that many dingers, it's safe to say he has a pretty good idea when he's got all of one -- and when he's just missed. Alas, his third at-bat during Boston's 5-2 win in Baltimore was in the latter category. Ortiz got underneath a Kevin Gausman offering and lifted a harmless fly ball to right field. As he was walking back to the dugout, though, he decided to make sure the crowd at Camden Yards knew: He was close. Very close. It was only a matter of time.
And, because Ortiz is nothing if not a man of his word, this happened a couple innings later:
That mammoth blast, Ortiz's 36th, broke Dave Kingman's record for most homers hit in a player's final season and also established Big Papi as the preeminent psychic of his time.