Ortiz adds chapter to legendary career

BOSTON — The legendary final season of David Ortiz added a new twist on Thursday night at Fenway Park when the slugger made more news with a home run he hit during batting practice than the one he smashed to ice a 13-2 victory over the Twins.

With all due respect to the two-run shot Ortiz mauled over the Boston bullpen and into the bleachers in right-center in the eighth, it had nothing over the bullet that dented part of the metal screen attached to Pesky’s Pole.

The baseball actually stuck into the pole and had to be pulled down by a Fenway Park employee.

“The ball that I hit was kind of hooking, but it was a line drive and it got stuck. I was impressed,” said Ortiz. “I’ve been watching balls hit that for years and never any of them got stuck in there. It doesn’t get any more powerful.”

Ortiz was asked after the game which ball he hit harder: The one into the pole or the blast over the bullpen that Statcast™ registered with an exit velocity of 106 mph and landed 417 feet away from home plate.

“I’d say the one on the foul pole. You saw that?” said Ortiz. “That was powerful right there. I wasn’t expecting that, but it happens.”

When the ball came unhinged from the pole, a fan caught it and ran off with the souvenir.

“A lot of fans wanted the ball to stay there,” said Ortiz. “I don’t know if the umpire was going to like that.”

“A lot of fans wanted the ball to stay …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com