Miami Marlins’ Marcell Ozuna creams a 468-foot HR to the upper reaches of Tropicana Field.
If the Miami Marlins weren’t playing inside cavernous Tropicana Field, Marcell Ozuna’s whopper of a homer would have sailed all the way toward the Gulf of Mexico.
That’s the best way to describe what many witnessed in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. With the Tampa Bay Rays up 3-0 on their rivals from South Florida in the top of the 4th inning, the Marlins needed someone to break the spell Blake Snell was putting on Miami’s batting lineup.
In came Ozuna, who, after taking a ball on the first pitch from Snell, sent his second pitch soaring to the heavens of Tropicana Field. His blast went so far that it touched the Rays’ 2011 Wild Card banner.
For the poor souls in the nose-bleed sections, the ball careened back down to the field.
So how hard was Ozuna’s home run? His ball sailed 468 feet before falling harmlessly back to the field, and according to Statcast, it was his longest home run ever recorded during the Statcast era.
When we said it had an opportunity to sail to the Gulf of Mexico, we really weren’t joking about that. That’s how hard Ozuna hit that ball.
For the second night in a row, Ozuna provided the breakout the Marlins needed.
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Just a night earlier, in Spaceship Ear … we mean Marlins Park, Ozuna’s blast was the only run of the game for the usually potent Marlins. Tonight, his nuclear bomb provided the spark Miami needed that propelled them to a 10-6 win over the rivals from St. Petersburg.
Everyone in Tropicana Field felt the boom on this night, and as long as Ozuna keeps smashing baseballs out of the park, the Marlins may be a team that people shouldn’t be sleeping this season.