Phillies' Andres Blanco hit a homer off his own face
The Philadelphia Phillies played two games against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday, a single-admission doubleheader to make up for a rainout back in April. They played at Citizens Bank Park, and it was perfect home run weather. And we know because 14 homers hit the seats between the two teams: nine in the first game and five in the second.
When the homers are flying, a few are bound to land in weird places. In the second game of the doubleheader, Phillies utility man Andres Blanco actually managed to hit a home run off his own face.
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It’s not as painful as it sounds. (Or painful at all, really.) It was the fourth inning, and Blanco was facing Marlins starter José Ureña. With two outs and the Phillies down 6-1, Blanco was ready to fight. He and Ureña engaged in an epic 14-pitch battle, which included seven straight foul balls. Hyun Soo Kim, the runner at first who had to take off on each one of those fouls, had to be exhausted.
On pitch number 14, Blanco’s bat finally got a solid thwap on one of Ureña’s pitches and sent it soaring toward right field. It was a no-doubt homer, and it didn’t show any signs of slowing down until it thunked against, well, Blanco’s face.
On the front of the second deck at Citizens Bank Park, there’s an auxiliary scoreboard that shows info about the hitters, including their headshots. The ball didn’t just glance off that scoreboard, it hit the picture of Blanco’s own face dead center.
Blanco hitting a jack off his own face wasn’t the only weirdly placed homer of the game. Just a few batters earlier, Phillies rookie Nick Williams yanked a towering shot to center field that fell directly into the bullpen elevator shaft.
Williams actually missed giving first base coach Mickey Morandini a high five as he passed, so Williams was swiping at the air like he was high fiving a ghost.
Both teams hit a ton of dingers on Tuesday night, and even though the Phillies out-homered the Marlins, they lost both games of the doubleheader. In game one, the Phillies hit five while the Marlins hit four, but the Marlins won 12-8. In game two, the Phillies hit three homers and the Marlins hit two, but the Marlins won 7-4. But in the tally of weirdly placed homers, the Phillies definitely won. At least that’s something?
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
