Brewers reliever Tyler Cravy ended his personal offensive drought with a second-deck moonshot
Entering Saturday night's game with the Pirates at Miller Park, Cravy hadn't done much at the dish as a big leaguer: He'd gone 0-for-10 in his young career, in fact. Relieving
As seen atop this post, that ball carried far into the seats above left-center ... an impressive blast for any hitter, let alone a pitcher with no real track record of power at the plate:
Tyler Cravy had one home run in 60 professional plate appearances before taking Locke deep, according to my stats researcher @AndrewGruman.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) August 28, 2016
That one homer came in 2015 with Triple-A Colorado Springs, for whom Cravy pitched in addition to a stint with the Brewers last season.
After the game, which was won by the Pirates, 9-6, Cravy explained to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy that he had a gameplan going into that at-bat:
"I was definitely surprised I hit it that well. I think I already had my mind made up that I was going to swing first pitch, so I was pretty lucky that it was a fastball in that location."
Cravy's homer adds him to the list of Brewers pitchers going deep this season, part of the ongoing #PitchersWhoRake conversation that includes
He got the ball back later, too:
This fan caught @TylerJayCravy's first @mlb hit/HR ⚾️, so Tyler gave him a bat & ball! #Brewers pic.twitter.com/0U4yhmZ1cd
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 28, 2016
He's also now the second relief pitcher in the league to do so in 2016, coming after Reds right-hander
If I'm running this search right, Tyler Cravy is the first Brewers reliever to hit a homer since Brooks Kieschnick hit three in 2003.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) August 28, 2016