Joey Gallo has experienced a lot in his MLB career. He’s hit 96 home runs with many of those dingers traveling absurd distances. He’s seen the most absurd shifts in baseball. He bunted against that shift one time.
But since making his MLB debut in 2015, the Rangers slugger had never experienced the unbridled joy of hitting a sacrifice fly. Not once. But on Sunday, that changed, and it was glorious.
It took him 1,337 big-league plate appearances, but in the Rangers’ game against the Astros, Gallo finally hit a fly ball deep enough to score a runner from third base — his first sacrifice fly.
The best part about this was that the Rangers definitely seemed aware of the streak. The entire dugout had their arms raised and gave Gallo an incredible welcome.
The only position player to go longer than Gallo without a sacrifice fly was Steve Sax who had 1,388 plate appearances. The overall record was held by Greg Maddux (1,405), but he was a pitcher — not a cleanup hitter with a fly-ball swing and big-time power.
As surprising as Gallo’s sac-fly drought may seem, it’s almost perfect that the streak ended this year. The early returns for Gallo in 2019 have been solid as he’s finally showing a more complete approach at the plate, hitting .281 with eight home runs and 22 RBI. Sure, his strikeout right is still ridiculously high (about 35 percent), but let’s not take away from history here.
Joey Gallo hit a sacrifice fly. Go crazy, Texas. The Rangers won, 11-10.
