To steal a line from Moneyball: How can you not be romantic about baseball?
The Baltimore Orioles were playing the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday in their final home game before a six-game road trip. And with the MLB trade deadline set for Tuesday, it was possibly Trey Mancini’s final game at Camden Yards as an Orioles player.
If that was the end of Mancini’s career in Baltimore, he certainly knew how to close it in style.
With a runner on second and one out in the eighth inning, Mancini drove a routine fly ball to right field. Rays right fielder Josh Lowe, who had sunglasses on his hat, almost immediately had issues tracking the ball in the sun. It got worse for Lowe as gravity played a cruel prank on him, bringing the ball down directly off his face.
Inside-the-park HR for Trey Mancini 🏃♂️💨
(via @Orioles)pic.twitter.com/K0l9wRcnEX
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 28, 2022
Mancini, who ranks in the 16th percentile in sprint speed, was off to the races — or at least an extremely slow version of that. Those final 90 feet were a struggle to watch.
By the time the Rays were able to get the ball back into the infield, Mancini narrowly slid in ahead of the relay throw. You won’t see many slower runners pull off an inside-the-park home run. And given the circumstances around Mancini’s impending trade, it would make for a legendary end to his time at Oriole Park.
Seriously, what a way to go out.
And back to Lowe, he was left with a clear mark on his face to go along with the embarrassment of losing that baseball.
Josh Lowe takes a fly ball off the face. pic.twitter.com/67rLG1F5Ur
— Baseball GIFs (@gifs_baseball) July 28, 2022
Pretty sure that ball bounced off Josh Lowe's face pic.twitter.com/OivkSyhgoJ
— Joey Merkel @ SDCC (@Joseph_Merkel) July 28, 2022
Still, what a great moment for Mancini. MLB fans understandably loved it.
