Atlanta Braves outfielder Travis Demeritte notched an inside-the-park home run on Friday night against the Texas Rangers (GameTracker). It marked his second homer of the season.
Demeritte, who led off and started in right field, lined a Spencer Howard pitch to center field to begin the third inning. Unfortunately for Howard and the Rangers, center fielder Adolis García misread the ball's trajectory, leaving him out of position to make the grab. García's diving attempt failed, with the ball dropping in and then ricocheting off him onto the warning track.
By the time García delivered the ball to the cutoff man, Marcus Semien, Demeritte was en route to the plate. Predictably, based on the headline and the introduction, Demeritte was able to slide in safely, easily beating an off-line throw. Here is the moving footage of that sequence of events:
Demeritte entered the night hitting .357/.400/.643 (195 OPS+) with a home run and a double. The aforementioned first home run was notable in its own way, too, as it fulfilled a fan's wish. Here's how MLB.com's Mark Bowman detailed that story earlier this week:
"She said it was her first game in Atlanta and she wanted me to hit a home run," Demeritte said. "I told her I might need to wait on that one. She was like, 'Nah' and reassured me she had all the faith in me. I was like, 'OK, we'll see what happens.' First pitch, sure enough."
Demeritte, 27 years old, is in his second career stint with the Braves organization. He was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers before being sent to Atlanta as part of a 2016 trade. The Braves then sent him to the Detroit Tigers in 2019 as part of a swap for Shane Greene. Demeritte rejoined the Braves organization in February 2021 after being claimed off waivers.
