Edwin Encarnacion huffed and puffed his way to his second career inside-the-park homer
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Edwin Encarnación had belted 350 homers in his excellent career prior to Monday night's action. No. 351 would come against the Angels during the Indians' 6-0 win that night, but it was definitely among his most unusual blasts.
Most of Encarnacion's dingers are high, majestic shots -- absolute no-doubters. That was not the case on Monday. Encarnacion crushed a ball deep down the left-field line. Justin Upton raced toward it, but it took a weird bounce right off the foul line on the wall below the pole. The ball ricocheted into no-man's land, and Encarnacion was off to the races, en route to an inside-the-park home run.
It took an effort to get around the bases, as Encarnacion was already feeling the burn by the time he rounded second:
There wasn't even time to show off his customary parrot! When Encarnacion crossed home plate, he could only share an exhausted laugh and high-five with teammate Francisco Lindor:
It was the first inside-the-park homer for Encarnacion since Aug. 31, 2007, when he was a third baseman with the Reds. Of course, back then, he was a young buck at 24 years old:
That guy? Yeah, he could probably do the trip around the bases without too much of a problem.
Although he's a professional athlete and probably faster than everyone you and I know, the 35-year-old version of Encarnacion is not as spry as he was 11 years ago. In 2017, he ranked 420th out of 465 players in baseball in sprint speed, according to Statcast. The two names around him were catchers Christian Vázquez and Drew Butera.
Take a deep breath, Edwin. You've earned it.