Tanner Roark hit a gloriously bizarre pitcher triple past Brandon Nimmo
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There are two words that inspire joy in the heart of every man, woman, child and potted plant that has achieved sentience: pitcher triple. On Friday night against the Mets, Tanner Roark gifted us with one of the best.
The now-mutton-chop-less Roark started the top of the third inning by lashing Noah Syndergaard's offering down the right-field line. Brandon Nimmo was caught in between bounces and could only watch as the ball rolled by on the wall padding like it was some kind of Rube Goldberg device.
When the ball got past Nimmo, Roark had to start hustling. Despite pitchers doing endless running in the days between starts, the hurler was understandably a little tired when he was done.
"I didn't know if he was going to get to it or if it was even fair, so my 90 degree turn [wasn't good]," Roark said after the game. "Ryan Zimmerman was making fun of me, how I turned the bases. Then I saw the ball go past Nimmo, and I just kept running."
"I was just trying to use my inner high school days and trying to be athletic," he added. u1:p
u1:p
If you're wondering what a pitcher triple looks like compared to a ... more usual triple, the SNY broadcast helpfully compared Roark to Amed Rosario's trip around the bases earlier in the game. No surprise, but Rosario won this easily:
Roark's hit was just the third triple by a pitcher in Nationals history and the first since reliever Joel Hanrahan. Shockingly -- especially after Luis Perdomo led MLB hurlers with four triples last year -- Roark is the first pitcher to get a three-bagger this year.