More mighty wallops by Kris Bryant, Joey Gallo — VIDEO
On Wednesday night, Kris Bryant hit a ball out of Progressive Field in Cleveland that wound up in the second tier of trees beyond the center-field fence. It was his first major league grand slam, the final four runs in the Cubs’ 17-0 mauling of the Indians.
It was impressive to see the Las Vegas kid hit one that far, even if it did come off an outfielder.
The Cleveland bullpen was so overworked and shell shocked that manager Terry Francona summoned outfielder David Murphy to mop up. Bryant promptly sent the mop flying into the stratosphere and those trees. Hold the Mr. Clean.
You can see Murphy smiling and Bryant trying hard not to smile as he rounds the bases.
It still looks like a grand slam in the box score. It still counted four runs. It still was a mighty wallop.
Mario Mendoza probably would have hit that lollipop from Murphy into center field for a clean single.
In a related note, fellow Las Vegan Joey Gallo hit another long home run, almost as long as Bryant’s, off the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday.
Kershaw is not an outfielder who gets summoned to mop up. He’s the Dodgers’ ace. So he was not smiling when Gallo rounded the bases after this latest mighty wallop for Texas.
He was sort of throwing stuff upon returning to the dugout.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski