Alex Rodriguez blasts first home run in over a year
He’s back! For the first time since September 2013, New York Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in a regular season game.
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With the Yankees trailing 5-1 in the sixth inning, Rodriguez led off the inning looking for his first hit of the night. He delivered, clobbering an 89 mph fastball from Daniel Norris out to left field for the solo shot.
Following the game, A-Rod had a sense of humor about the long wait between round-trippers.
A-Rod: “I felt like I needed a Google map to get around the bases. It’s been a while.”
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 10, 2015
Rodriguez’s last home run came September 20, 2013. He hit a grand slam against George Kontos during the contest, giving the Yankees a 5-1 win.
A-Rod’s home run came a bit too late this time around. While the Yankees managed to close the deficit to two runs, they couldn’t claw their way back. The Blue Jays would add an insurance run late in the game, eventually winning 6-3. Rodriguez would finish 1 for 3 with the home run. He walked and struck out twice in his other three plate appearances.
Despite that, Rodriguez said it was nice to notch his first home run now, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
“It’s been a long, long time. It certainly felt good to get some cheers in front of the home fans and get us going a little bit. Any time you get the first one of the column — win, hit, RBI — all those things are important.”
With the home run, Rodriguez now sits at 665 for his career. He’s now five home runs away from reaching his first $6 million bonus. It’s still unclear whether the Yankees are willing to pay out those bonuses, though.
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For now, everyone seems happy. Rodriguez hasn’t been a distraction, the fans have been supportive and manager Joe Girardi has said all the right things.
It seemed impossible months ago, but this story could actually have a happy ending. Looks like everything is coming up A-Rod!
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
