In Sunday’s second game of the doubleheader with the Rays, Jason Bay‘s solo blast around Pesky’s Pole was the icing on the cake in Boston’s 4-0 win and series sweep. The homer, his 32nd of the season, was more than just a four-bagger. According to one of Bay’s teammates, he now owns the team’s shortest homer of the season.
“I do have the distinction of shortest home run of the year. Nick Green let me know that he now no longer has it. Pretty excited about it. A homer’s a homer, I’ll take them all day,” Bay told projo.com.
It was Green who wrapped a walkoff homer around the pole earlier this season against the Braves. Green’s blast made it a few feet past the pole whereas Bay’s ball — what appeared to be a harmless, lofty opposite-field pop up — inched around it, landing in the lap of the fan one seat next to the famous yellow boundary marker.
“I knew it had a chance — I almost missed first base because I didn’t really know what was going on,” he said. “I was trying to see, [right fielder Gabe Gross] jumped, I couldn’t tell if the ball landed on the warning track, I didn’t know if it was foul, I didn’t really know what was going on. Then there was an emphatic home run call, and everybody started going crazy.”
The homer came at a perfect time for the Sox All-Star outfielder as it proved to be Bay’s lone hit of the series sweep. Bay went 1-for-9 with two walks, two runs, and four strikeouts.
