The Orioles were on their way to a frustrating loss to the Pirates when, with one swing of the bat, Trey Mancini gave them life again with a pinch-hit ninth inning two-out home run to tie the game back up. That was as improbable as it was awesome. Things got even better later, when Mancini delivered the extra-inning walkoff bomb to give the Orioles a 9-6 victory.
If you came away from that thinking that you had never seen anything like that before, you’re not wrong: Turns out that, according to STATS LLC information provided by the Orioles, Trey Mancini is the first Orioles player EVER to accomplish the feat of hitting a pinch hit game-tying homer followed by an extra innings walkoff homer.
Even if you exclude the part about Mancini being a pinch hitter, this has still hardly happened before. In fact, the only two times an Orioles player has ever homered in the ninth inning and extra innings in the same game were accomplished by two of the franchise’s greats: Boog Powell did it in 1966 and Eddie Murray did so in 1980. If you’re getting mentioned in the same sentence as those guys, you had a good day.
The pinch-hit home run/extra innings walkoff homer feat was unprecedented in franchise history and not much more common across all of baseball. MLB’s Stat of the Day noted that Mancini is just the eighth player in the entirety of MLB history to enter as a pinch hitter, collect two home runs and drive in at least five home runs.
What we all need to do is just watch those dingers over again. Here’s Mancini tying the game in the ninth inning with a shot to right center:
Down to our last out in the 9th, Boom Boom tied it up. #VoteTrey pic.twitter.com/JLdUkrsHDK
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) June 8, 2017
This game-tying dinger elicited both an “Oh, Lordy!” and a “MERCY!” from Gary Thorne. A dramatic homer is always a surprise, but even moreso when it’s an opposite field shot that just keeps carrying and carrying.
When Mancini walked things off in the eleventh inning, there was much less doubt off the bat:
Pinch-hit, game-tying HR in the 9th.#Walkoff in the 11th.
— MLB (@MLB) June 8, 2017
Have a DAY, @TreyMancini. pic.twitter.com/AqvUX1WFli
Maybe the best thing about the Orioles new LED light system is the way that it allows them to do flickering lights as part of a walkoff celebration, as seen in the above video. And why shouldn’t they? Mancini ended the game. Time to turn off the lights!
...but not before a shower of water and Gatorade.
Grab all the coolers. @TreyMancini is ON FIRE. https://t.co/HYBPCBHKjm pic.twitter.com/uUoTlrhxE5
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) June 8, 2017
It doesn’t look any less fun in some of the still frames.
.@TreyMancini in ALL his glory. pic.twitter.com/kfvcE5tunv
— MLB (@MLB) June 8, 2017
Of his dramatics, Mancini told reporters after the game, “This is a pretty special night for sure.” He boldly went where no Oriole has gone before.