Upton Jr. pulls off straight steal of home

SAN DIEGO — When he reached third base in the fourth inning of Friday night’s 4-0 victory over the Rockies, Melvin Upton Jr. had no designs on stealing home. Then, he noticed Rockies starter Chris Rusin in a partial windup — with his back to third — and instincts took over.

His jump was perfect. His slide, even better.

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With that truly brilliant baserunning play — equal parts athleticism and baseball acumen — Upton became the first Padre to record a straight steal of home since Everth Cabrera did so in 2012.

“I knew that he had a slow delivery to the plate out of the windup and kind of extended my lead,” Upton said. “When he didn’t give me a peek, I took off.”

Rusin wasn’t even in a full windup when Upton broke. He rocked back, took a high leg kick, and delivered — a called strike to Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz.

Upton broke just as Rusin began to rock. Catcher Nick Hundley was slow to hop out of his crouch, and that’s when Upton made one of the more impressive slides you’ll ever see.

Said Upton: “I don’t know how I did it, but I got around the tag.”

Slow-motion replay affords us the luxury of figuring out exactly how Upton did …

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