ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Nick Ahmed’s inside-the-park HR gives D-backs early lead in LA

May 9, 2018, 7:38 PM | Updated: 8:21 pm

On Tuesday night, A.J. Pollock’s hit a home run in his first at-bat of the series in Los Angeles to give the Arizona Diamondbacks an early lead over the Dodgers in the first inning.

On Wednesday night, shortstop Nick Ahmed did the same for his team, but in a much different fashion.

Ahmed hit an inside-the-park home run for the first run of the game.

For an inside-the-park home run, there’s always a mix of speed and fortune.

For Ahmed, he mostly got lucky. On a deep fly ball to center at the wall, Dodgers outfielder Enrique Hernandez did not know the wall was coming at all as he backed up.

This caused Hernandez to fall over as the ball bounced off the wall and away from him.

Right fielder Yasiel Puig came all the way over to pick up the ball. As Puig grabbed the ball and was going to throw the ball into the cutoff man, the decision was made by third base coach Tony Perezchica to send Ahmed home.

A very, very close play at the plate ensued, as both Puig and second baseman Chris Barnes’ throws were on the money.

In the end, Ahmed was ruled safe and the Dodgers declined to challenge the play.

It was the 15th inside-the-park home run in franchise history and the first since Daniel Descalso’s last year on Aug. 17. Arizona has now had a player hit an inside-the-park home run four straight seasons.

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