Daniel Palka homered twice in his fourth-inning at-bat in the White Sox 8-0 win over the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. But only one of them counted.
Palka hit a 1-0 pitch off of reliever William Cuevas into the seats down the right-field line, which was originally ruled fair by the umpiring crew. Palka circled the bases and the Guaranteed Rate Field fireworks were set off, but before he reached third base, the umpires had gotten together near the mound and rightfully ruled the ball foul.
On a 3-2 pitch, Palka connected on a blast to right that clearly stayed fair for his 20th home run and 54th RBI. Palka’s blast had a 112.3 mph exit velocity and carried 416 feet.
“It was funny because the bat boy went to give me a high five, and I was like, ‘Just give me the bat,'” said Palka. “I thought [the first one] was foul by 20 feet, and when he said fair, I was like, ‘I’ll take it.’ But kind of gave me the same pitch 3-2, and [I] stayed back just enough.”
“I think just because he threw me that pitch and I hit it foul. It was the exact same spot, everything. I think my body just took over and waited back enough to hit it out.”
White Sox manager Rick Renteria and even Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and A.J. Pierzynski on the broadcast said they had never seen anything happen like that before.
“Never. It was unique,” Renteria said. “[Bench coach] Joe [McEwing], he was looking at me, he said, ‘I’ve never seen that.’ I said, ‘I never have either.’ It always ends in a strikeout, a popup, a ground ball, something. It never ends up on a positive.”
Luckily he was able to round the bases twice. Double fireworks too.
