Escobar hits inside-the-park homer in Game 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It didn’t take long for Alcides Escobar to make an impact in the 2015 World Series, as the Royals‘ leadoff man made history with an inside-the-park home run.

Escobar hit one to the left-center gap and Mets center fielder Yoenis Cespedes missed the ball on an attempted backhand on the run. By the time the Mets were able to get the ball in, Escobar was rounding third. No error was called on the play, giving Escobar the first World Series inside-the-park homer since Mule Haas did it for the Philadelphia A’s in 1929.

It wasn’t leading off the game, since the Royals are at home, but Escobar’s homer was a leadoff homer by definition, making him the first in World Series history to lead off his team’s first inning with an inside-the-park job.

Alcides Escobar had an inside-the-park homer to lead off the bottom of the first. (USATSI)

This was the 10th World Series inside-the-park home run, per baseball-reference.com play index.

The others:

1. Jimmy Sebring, 1903 Game 1 (off Cy Young!)
2. Hi Myers, 1916 Game 2 (off Babe Ruth!)
3. Benny Kauff, 1917 Game 4
4. Casey Stengel, 1923 Game 1
5. Ross Youngs, 1923 Game 4
6. Joe Dugan, 1923 Game 5
7. Tommy Thevenow, 1926 Game 2
8. Lou Gehrig, 1928 Game 3
9. Mule Haas, 1929 Game 4

The last postseason inside-the-park homer was from Mark Kotsay, in Game 2 of the 2006 Twins-A’s ALDS.

Needless to say, that got the fans at Kauffman Stadium going:

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.