Sometimes it feels like you truly do see something you’ve never seen before every time you watch a baseball game.
In Game 2 of the World Series between the Astros and Phillies at Minute Maid Park on Saturday night, a 5-2 Philadelphia loss, Kyle Schwarber thought he homered during an at-bat in the eighth inning. But he didn’t. And then he almost did.
Schwarber smashed a 2-2 fastball from reliever Rafael Montero in the top of the eighth inning that traveled a Statcast-projected 403 feet right down the right-field line and into the stands.
The drive was originally ruled a fair ball and a home run, and Schwarber took his trot around the bases on what he thought was his fourth homer of the postseason. As he crossed home plate, however, the call on the field was changed to a foul ball. Then the umpires conducted a crew chief replay review and determined that the ball did, indeed, sail just foul.
Back in the box, Schwarber proceeded to hit another long drive to right on the very next pitch — this one plenty fair — that took Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker to the wall. For a brief second, it looked as though Schwarber might just get that homer after all. He even tilted his head a bit to get a better look as he left the batter’s box. But Tucker turned and made the catch right up against the wall.
In the end, Schwarber took two consecutive swings on which he hit the baseball a combined 756 feet. Usually, when that happens, you’ve got a homer or two by your name in the box score. But this wasn’t Schwarber’s night — all he had to show for his efforts was an “F-9” on the scorecard.
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