Marte fulfills dream with inside-the-park homer
MILWAUKEE -- Once Starling Marte saw the ball bounce back past center fielder Lorenzo Cain, he knew he was going to head for home.
Marte put the Pirates up by four runs in the fifth inning of Friday night's game vs. the Brewers at Miller Park with an inside-the-park home run. Marte's home run would be one of three Pittsburgh hit en route to a 6-4 win.
"My entire life, I've been waiting for something like this," Marte said through a translator. "Especially when I started playing in the Minor Leagues, this is something I dreamt about."
Gregory Polanco opened the frame with a single up the middle, before Marte lined a 1-1 pitch from starter Junior Guerra high off the angled wall in left-center. The ball caromed back well beyond Cain, as Marte never broke stride and scored standing up.
"Once I stepped on second base and I noticed that the ball was still far away from Lorenzo, I knew I had a shot," Marte said.
Adam Frazier had Pittsburgh's last inside-the-park home run last season on Sept. 9 against St. Louis.
Marte's drive hit the one section of the wall where the ball bounced back too far for Cain to make a play, but not far enough to get to right fielder Domingo Santana.
"That's a ball in this park that you see once a year, once every couple years," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "It's always an inside-the-parker. It's the ball [Orlando] Arcia hit last year. It hits that angle right and shoots back all the way -- it doesn't matter.
"Even if you think Domingo didn't head there right away, Cain still beat him to the ball. I don't think Domingo going right away gets him there any faster. They're running a long ways. Domingo's probably got 140 feet to go, Cain's got probably 120 feet to go. It's too far."