SAN FRANCISCO – Ty Blach has hit a baseball over the wall at AT&T park before, but only during batting practice
“Maybe one a day, not too many,” Blach said when asked if he ever hits home runs during BP. “Nothing like Bum. Bum hits about 50 a day.”
This time he got one that counts.
Blach took a seven-run lead into the bottom of the fifth inning Thursday night in the final game of the 2017 Bay Bridge Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics. He took the first pitch for a ball. He did not take the second pitch.
Welcome to Ty's Blach Party.
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Blach said it was his first home run since high school, as the left-handed pitcher who swings from the right side of the plate didn’t hit a home run in the Minor Leagues, and didn’t pop one out while pitching at Creighton. For the 26-year-old Blach, it’s been at least eight years since he’s gone deep, so Thursday’s round-tripper definitely turned some heads.
“Denard’s look on the on-deck circle, that was pretty funny. He was like, did you really just do that? That was cool, it was a good moment.”
Blach’s home run landed 416 feet beyond home plate, and cleared the center field fence at AT&T Park with ease. The Colorado native became the third different Giants’ pitcher to hit a home run that traveled at least 400 feet this season, joining Madison Bumgarner, who hit a pair on Opening Day, and Jeff Samardzija, who cracked a 448-foot home run earlier this year at Coors Field.
After the game, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy didn’t limit his comments to Blach’s ability to swing the bat, as he said the rookie’s all-around skill set has helped him develop into one of the Giants’ most reliable players this season.
“We lost Bumgarner and I think he’s (Blach) filled in nicely,” Bochy said. “He’s had some great games and this kid, I mean, you just love his tempo out there. He takes the ball, he goes, he has a great changeup and curveball that he’ll mix in with the fastball on both sides. He can hold runners. He handles the bat as you saw. He’s just a nice pitcher to have out there that can do so many things to help himself too. He’s thrown a shutout this year and I think he has been one of the silver lining things that we’ve had happen this year.”