SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a feat so rare no hitter had accomplished it this season.
That is, until Jerar Encarnacion, the Giants’ 6-foot-4 diamond in the rough, got a breaking ball over the plate in his first at-bat Wednesday night.
The slider from Colin Rea broke away from Encarnacion in the right-handed batter’s box, and he went with the pitch, put a big swing on it and extended the Giants’ early lead in their eventual 13-2 romp over the Brewers with their first of three home runs.
Less notable than its impact on the scoreboard, however, was its landing spot.
Barely clearing the 25-foot brick wall in right field, Encarnacion became the first right-handed batter to homer the opposite way at Oracle Park this season. It’s been done only 75 times since the waterfront ballpark opened in 2000, not since J.D. Davis did it last May, also against the Brewers.
“It was carrying a little bit out there today, but it’s tough to go oppo here, especially at night,” manager Bob Melvin said.
Encarnacion made good contact — 101.6 mph off the bat — but the ball traveled only 353 feet before finding the first rows of seats atop the arcade. According to Statcast, it would have been a home run in 17 of the league’s 30 ballparks.
With favorable winds blowing toward McCovey Cove, Encarnacion didn’t have any doubt off the bat.
Jerar Encarnación goes oppo taco pic.twitter.com/XDG6vm2NgZ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 12, 2024
“I thought it had a chance to go because that’s where most of my power is,” Encarnacion said in Spanish through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “When I saw it leave (my bat), I knew it had a chance to go. … The wind and the bat helped make it a home run. If you don’t hit it well, it doesn’t matter how much wind there is.”
Encarnacion, 26, had 19 homers in 26 games in the Mexican League before the Giants signed him as a minor-league free agent. He slugged 10 in 33 games — with a .352 batting average — for Triple-A Sacramento. And since joining the Giants on Aug. 2, he has left the yard four times while batting .267 with a .767 OPS.
“He’s got some power,” Melvin said. “When he squares it up, it doesn’t matter where.”
A fellow righty slightly smaller in stature, Heliot Ramos understands the difficulty of hitting the ball out to right field in the Giants’ home ballpark.
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There have been 104 Splash Hits by Giants batters in the history of Oracle Park, but none by a right-handed hitter. Buster Posey might have had a shot in the 2021 NLDS, but the path of his home run was impeded by one of the water fountains that add just another obstacle to the task.
“That’s one of my goals,” Ramos said. “Hit it in the water.”
If not Ramos, then perhaps Encarnacion.
“I mean, you see that guy?” Ramos said. “He’s like 6-6, 250. Nothing is impossible for him.”