Austin Barnes liked this pitch so much, he hit it twice
Barnes liked this pitch so much he hit it twice
During Wednesday's Giants-Dodgers game, Mike Leake threw a pitch to Austin Barnes that he grew quite fond of in the split second the baseball took to travel from Leake's hand to the plate. He liked it so much, in fact, he didn't want to hit it just once.
Barnes fouled it off into the dirt, then caught it with his backswing on the bounce, and perhaps he caught a glimpse of himself and the ball developing a fast friendship, riding tandem bikes together. But neither he nor the catcher knew right away where the ball had gone, and before Barnes was able to locate and retrieve it, he had to stand in for the next pitch of his at-bat. So ended the all-too-fleeting friendship between Barnes and the sixth pitch of his second at-bat of the game.
Barnes ended up walking (the seventh pitch was ball four), and I bet he spent the journey to first thinking about that baseball.