Kole's roll: Wild hop leads to inside-park HR

Sometimes all you need is a lucky bounce.

With one swing -- and an exhausting sprint -- Kole Calhoun sparked an insane nine-run fourth for the D-backs in their 14-7 win over the Astros at Chase Field on Wednesday, trucking around the bases for a stand-up inside-the-park home run.

After a Ketel Marte single to lead off the bottom half of the frame, Calhoun drilled a 3-2 pitch from Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. into the right-field corner, where the ball banged off the bottom of the wall and rolled quickly -- and kept rolling -- along the warning track to center field. By the time Houston corralled the ball and got it to the infield, Calhoun was huffing and puffing his way across home plate.

“I was trying to stop and he was waving me,” Calhoun said of third-base coach Tony Perezchica. “I was like, all right, here we go. I couldn’t see what was happening behind me. Right when I saw the ball kick, I knew I had three. I was content but he’s waving me, so here we go.

“That extra 90 feet could have been a whole football field is what it felt like.”

The homer was Calhoun's second of the year and just the third of the season for the D-backs, who hadn't tallied a baserunner vs. McCullers in the first three innings. In all, the D-backs sent 14 men to the plate and collected nine hits. Calhoun also delivered an RBI single, and he was one of three players to have two hits in the frame.

"It's no secret we’ve been struggling putting innings together," Calhoun said. "It's nice to see everyone come alive. The work ethic has been there, we just were not getting results. It's nice to finally string some together."