Mike Napoli Hit a HR In The 8th To Get Within A Run, A Walk-Off In The Ninth To Win It
It’s been a rough start for the defending AL West champion Texas Rangers, who currently sit in last place, and it’s been an even rougher start for 35-year-old Mike Napoli, who’s hitting .172 with a .612 OPS in his third stint with the Rangers. But neither of those two things were noticeable last night when Texas battled back late to win their third straight game against the Padres.
Trailing 2-0 in the 8th, Napoli hammered his sixth home run of the season to get the Rangers within a run. An inning later, Elvis Andrus and Jonathan Lucroy got the party started with a pair of one-out singles, while Andrus would later come in to score the tying run on the third consecutive base hit of the inning by Rougned Odor. The next guy up was Napoli, and he hit that shit to the MOON!
If you’ve ever been to that ballpark down there in Arlington, Texas, then you know the balls that get squared up nice can get out of there in a hurry. Statcast had that second bomb at an exit velocity of 110.7 MPH traveling a distance of 448 feet. Shit was croaked. According to ESPN HR Tracker, both of Napoli’s home runs last night were his No. 1 and No. 2 longest home runs of the season, the walk-off being the longest.
PS — When Harold Reynolds asked Nap about his walk-off after the game, he definitely got a bug on his face or something and tried to play it off like he meant to do that to his own face.