SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy started Sunday’s game against the Giants with an inside-the-park home run off Trevor McDonald. He made history, too.
McCarthy, who incredibly recorded his first inside-the-park home run at any level against the Pirates on June 20, became the first player with two leadoff inside-the-parkers in the same season since Edd Roush in 1929. McCarthy is also the ninth player since 1901 to have at least two such home runs in the same season.
The play initially appeared to be a Little League home run. McCarthy drilled a ball into Triples Alley in right-center field at Oracle Park, and two Giants outfielders pulled up as they chased it, thinking the ball might bounce over the fence for a ground-rule double.
Instead, the ball caromed high off the wall as McCarthy raced around to score. The official scorer initially ruled it a triple and an error on right fielder Jung Hoo Lee, but later changed it to a home run to cement McCarthy’s name in the history books.
It was the third first-inning leadoff inside-the-park homer in Rockies history -- Eric Young Jr. had the other on Aug. 8, 2012. It was the 21st inside-the-park homer in Rockies history and, before McCarthy's feats this season, the team’s first since Ian Desmond’s on June 14, 2019.
McCarthy, 28, joined the Rockies in a January trade with the Diamondbacks.