Mark Reynolds stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning of Thursday’s game between the Rockies and Atlanta Braves. The Colorado Rockies first baseman was scheduled to have the day off. But with no outs and no men on, Rockies manager Walt Weiss inserted Reynolds for a pinch at-bat.
Reynolds watched Braves reliever Hunter Cervenka throw two balls. Then on the third pitch of the at-bat, Cervenka grooved a fastball that Reynolds nearly belted to the concourse in left center.
The 484-foot home run — the second-longest shot in the MLB this year — put the Rockies ahead by four in an eventual 7-3 win over the Braves at Coors Field.
“It felt like me in 2009,” Reynolds joked after the game, an allusion to the season he hit a career-best 44 bombs.
Reynolds, now in his 12th season, has hit 10 home runs through 95 games this year.
The blast Thursday came off Reynolds’ bat at 114.6 mph. It also traveled the length of many, many Jose Altuves (the Houston Astros’ fun-sized second baseman), as Jake Shapiro of BSN Denver noted.
The Rockies improved to 44-51 with the victory. Their four-game series against the Braves concludes Sunday at Coors Field.
