It’s one of the most exciting plays in baseball.
And it was devastating for the Dodgers.
What looked like a bloop hit that landed on the warning track down the left-field line morphed into an inside-the-park home run that left Teoscar Hernandez giving chase as the ball off Jung Hoo Lee’s bat careened away from him in the left-field corner.
The Giants outfielder dove across home plate as the throw from cutoff man Miguel Rojas sailed over catcher Dalton Rushing’s head, completing his 360-foot sprint around the base paths that tied the score at 2 in the fifth inning of the finale of the arch rivals’ four-game series at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night.
Despite Hernandez’s misplay, there was no error assigned on the play, resulting in an official inside-the-park home run — the first-ever by a Giant inside Dodger Stadium and the first by a San Francisco player since Patrick Bailey’s walk-off variety last July against the Phillies.
The Giants caught a break in more ways than one on the play.
Lee fought off a tough 0-2 fastball at the top of the zone from Emmett Sheehan with an inside-out swing that resulted in an exit velocity of only 73.2 mph. It would have been a difficult play to make on the fly, and when the ball bounced on the warning track dirt, it came up inches short of going into the stands, which would have put an end to the play and resulted in a ground-rule double.
Instead, the ball bounced off the wall in foul territory and away from Hernandez toward the Dodgers’ bullpen. Hernandez recovered and made a strong throw to Rojas, but the relay was late and off-line.
Giants third base coach Hector Borg windmilled Lee home. Catcher Eric Haase, who started the play on first base, scored easily. Luis Arráez, who was standing on deck, laid prone on the ground, signaling to Lee to get down. The headfirst dive ended up as an unnecessary flourish, thanks to the throw.
Lee showed more emotion than usually upon returning to the dugout, emphatically slapping hands with his teammates, a few of whom had poured out to greet him.
The third-year outfielder from Korea came out of his shell earlier in the series, uppercutting the air with his right fist and letting out a yell after a two-RBI double in the Giants’ win Tuesday night.
It was the first inside-the-park home run of Lee’s MLB career — his third of any variety this season.
There hadn’t been an inside-the-parker from anyone at Dodger Stadium, let alone their chief rivals, since Nick Ahmed did it on May 9, 2018. The last Giants player to do it against the Dodgers came at Candlestick Park, all the way back in 1981, by Larry Herndon off Fernando Valenzuela.
The Little League-style home run was only the Giants’ second hit off Sheehan, who otherwise mostly breezed through six innings. Their other knock came on an equally weak piece of contact — another bloop hit, this one off the bat of Rafael Devers.
Sheehan also hit a batter and walked two, including the other run that came home to score on the play.
Hernandez, for his part, quickly made up for the defensive blunder with his bat.
The Dodgers’ slugger had already doubled twice when he came up for a third time and proceeded to lace a third two-bagger that put runners on second and third and knocked San Francisco starter Landen Roupp out of the game with one out in the sixth.
Two batters later, Hernandez came around to score on two-run single to right from pinch-hitter Alex Call, effectively negating Lee’s two-run homer and giving the Dodgers the lead again, 4-2.
The three doubles by Hernandez matched a career-high, last done in 2018.
