Bailey’s inside-the-park home run could only have happened at Oracle

GIANTS

The Giants’ Patrick Bailey celebrates with first base coach Mark Hallberg, right, and second baseman Casey Schmitt, left, after he hit an inside the park three-run walk-off home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in the bottom of the ninth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tuesday. The Giants won the game 4-3. THEARON W. HENDERSON – GETTY IMAGES

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SAN FRANCISCO >> At any other ballpark, Patrick Bailey could’ve jogged. Here — and only here — the Giants catcher had to sprint.

Bailey’s deep drive to right-center field in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday night traveled an estimated 414 feet. If Bailey’s ball landed in the bleachers, the moment would’ve still been special. Oracle Park would’ve still erupted. His teammates would’ve still doused him in Powerade for lifting the Giants to a thrilling 4-3 win over the Phillies.

Instead, the ball bounced off the concrete lip of an angled 24-foot-high wall. As it rolled along the warning track, the moment was no longer going to be just special. As Bailey lost his helmet in between second and third, the moment was no longer going to be just memorable. As Bailey crossed home, his oxygen reserves depleted after completing a walk-off, three-run, inside-the-park home run to win it for the Giants, the moment transcended into the echelon of unforgettable.

“That was the most electric play I think I’ve ever seen,” said Brett Wisely of the first walk-off, inside-the-park home run by a catcher since Bennie Tate on August 11, 1926.

Manager Bob Melvin, a former catcher, said, “I thought it was out, but it kicked off the wall. You don’t see many inside-the-park home runs. It was Ichiro-esque in the All-Star Game, maybe a different speed.”

Bailey stepped to the plate against the Phillies’ Jordan Romano with the Giants trailing, 3-1, and down to their final two outs and runners on first and third.

Romano began the at-bat against Bailey with a 93.9 mph four-seam fastball right down the middle. Bailey sent it into the San Francisco night. Thanks to Oracle Park’s architecture and geometry, the ball took a sharp bounce off the concrete and darted towards left field.

Casey Schmitt, who led off the inning with a double, prepared to tag up at third just in case the ball was caught, then cruised home. Wisely, who was on first base as a pinch runner, was already rounding second once the ball bounced and also scored easily. By the time center fielder Brandon Marsh retrieved the ball, Bailey was rounding third.

“Once I scored, I saw Schmitty kind of pop up. I was like, ‘Oh (expletive), Bailey’s coming too,’” Wisely said. “When I turned around, I saw Patty coming. Honestly, that was the wildest ending to a game I’ve ever been a part of.”

With every base that Bailey touched, Oracle Park’s sellout crowd of 40,212 seemed to go up an octave, a cacophony of cathartic cries that somehow kept growing louder and louder. Shortstop Edmundo Sosa desperately heaved the ball home upon fielding the relay, but the throw was equal parts errant and late.

“Once I saw the bounce,” Bailey said, “I was like, ‘All right, just don’t fall over.’”

The night was right for inside-the-park homers: Over in Sacramento, Lawrence Butler became the first Athletics player in 82 years to hit a leadoff inside-the-park home run when he rounded the bases Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves. The A’s won the game 10-1.