Orioles third baseman Renato Núñez thought he was pitched ball four and looked to take his free base in the first inning of Sunday’s matinee at Fenway Park. But Núñez’s slow jog to first was quickly halted before it could begin, as home plate umpire Jansen Visconti deemed Red Sox starter Nate Eovaldi’s 97.2 miles-per-hour fastball a strike.
So, instead, Núñez retook his spot in the batter’s box and proceeded to pummel Eovaldi’s very next pitch, a hanging curveball, over the Green Monster for a three-run homer.
“Boy, you hang it, they bang it,’’ color commentator Dennis Eckersley said on the NESN television broadcast.