Fernando Tatis Jr. was all but certain he'd given the San Diego Padres the lead over the San Francisco Giants late into Thursday's game.
During the eighth inning, Tatis hammered a pitch from Giants reliever Randy Rodriguez to deep center field. He unleashed a hefty bat flip in celebration of what he thought was a go-ahead two-run shot, only for the wind to fight back and keep the ball in the park. San Francisco center fielder Jung Hoo Lee was able to make the catch on the warning track for the second out of the inning, leaving Tatis in disbelief.
Bat flip for a flyout 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/fY9Unu3QEq
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 5, 2025
"He thought he had it. He can't believe it didn't go over. He just got Oracle'd," the announcer said while a stunned Tatis walked back to the visitors' dugout.
In Tatis's defense, he truly did get all of that pitch. The fly out had an exit velocity of 108 mph and a launch angle of 23 degrees. Statcast metrics indicate that similarly hard-hit baseballs had a batting average of .988 and 83.8% of those hits resulted in home runs. In other words, it makes sense why Tatis thought that ball was destined for the bleachers.
Unfortunately for the Padres star, the wind blowing into Oracle Park kept this one in play, and the Giants were able to hold on for a 3–2 win.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fernando Tatis Jr. Did Massive Bat Flip On Improbable Fly-Out.
