‘s tape-measure bomb to the left concourse of on Monday night was the longest home run in MLB so far this season at 486 feet.
It also left his teammates — not to mention much of the Cubs-leaning crowd in Colorado’s 6-5 comeback win — “in awe”, according to first baseman .
“I know I was in awe,” Murphy said. “He walloped that one pretty good with a good swing and a good at-bat, with a big swing for us as well, too.”
Added manager Bud Black: “That ball was crushed.”
🚨LONGEST HOME RUN OF THE SEASON 🚨
Desi sends one 4️⃣8️⃣6️⃣ft!!
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies)
Desmond’s seventh homer of the season didn’t end up being the game-winning hit on a back-and-forth night, as it temporarily gave Colorado a 5-4 lead in the seventh. However, it underscores the outfielder’s ongoing offensive uptick this season as he sports a .246 average with 25 RBIs.
He’s shown notable improvements in exit velocity and launch angle from 2018, while Desmond’s ground ball rate has correspondingly fallen from an alarming 62 percent last season to 45.3 percent this season.
As for Desmond, he’s just glad his jack could provide a spark in extending Colorado’s home winning streak to nine games for the third time in franchise history and first time since 1996.
“As long as it goes over the fence, I don’t really care how far it goes,” Desmond said. “Especially after (German) Marquez pitched the way he did and came back by showing a lot of resilience … We’ve got a lot of grinding going on and I was just happy to contribute.”
Meanwhile, over in Philadelphia on Monday, the Phillies and the Diamondbacks combined to set their own home run mark. In a 13-8 Diamondbacks’ victory, Arizona and Philadelphia combined for 13 homers, setting a new major league record for total homers in a game.
