A walk-off home run is always thrilling. A walk-off, INSIDE-THE-PARK homer?? Now we’re talking.
Dodgers Minor League outfielder Ryan Ward did exactly that in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader between Triple-A Oklahoma City and El Paso. In a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning (both games were scheduled for seven frames), Ward stepped up with one away and a chance to deliver the walk-off win.
Boy, did he deliver -- and how.
Ward, who recently represented Team USA in the 2024 WBSC Premier12 event, crushed a 408-foot fly ball into the deepest part of the left-center gap, and El Paso center fielder Bryce Johnson couldn’t snag it on the warning track. By the time left fielder Tim Locastro corralled the baseball, Ward was flying around the bases with no plans to stop.
Ward’s helmet nearly sailed off his head as he rounded third base and headed for home plate, sliding in ahead of the relay throw for a walk-off win for the Comets. It was the sixth homer of the year for Ward (who finished second in the Minors in 2024 with 34 dingers), and surely the most dramatic.
Ward’s walk-off inside-the-parker definitely isn’t something you see often in the Major Leagues. Tyler Naquin hit the last one on Aug. 19, 2016, for Cleveland, and there have been only five since 2000 -- even more reason to appreciate Ward’s exciting play.