Mike Napoli hits gravity-defying ground-rule double at Progressive Field

What goes up, must come down. There are no exceptions to that rule. Well, except maybe for moonshots off the bat of Cleveland Indians slugger Mike Napoli.

Among his career-best 34 home runs and counting this season, Napoli has hit numerous blasts that seemed destined to fly forever. However, it was his gravity-defying ground-rule double during Friday’s 11-4 win against the Detroit Tigers that might be his most memorable hit of the season.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]

Napoli’s bizarre double knocked home two runs in the first inning for Cleveland. It was aided by Tigers left fielder Justin Upton, who apparently never saw the baseball. That allowed the extremely high fly ball to land untouched on the warning track, where it bounced over the 19-foot wall in left field.

It’s worth watching again.

To our knowledge, that’s never happened before in a game at Progressive Field. The call was an easy one for the umpires. It’s just like any other ballpark when the ball hops over the wall or fence. The ground rules make it a double, which meant each runner was allowed to advance two bases.

To Upton’s credit, he bounced back with a pair of home runs to atone for his blunder. Those helped Detroit get back into the temporarily. However, Napoli would also hit a two-run home run on to the concourse that bounced out of the stadium, to help pad Cleveland’s lead.

Tonight’s lesson is a two-parter. First and foremost, Mike Napoli is one strong human being. Second, it might be a good idea to stop challenging him. He takes those challenges personally and it’s the baseball that pays the price.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @Townie813