ANAHEIM, Calif.
The baseball trampolined off Johnny Giavotella's bat at 103 mph, a missile into the darkened night sky here at Angel Stadium, a flare from an expatriate of the Royals’ process.
In the moments after contact, Giavotella took off sprinting for first base anyway, rounding the bag as the baseball landed in the bullpen beyond the chain-link left-field fence. As his leg churned into a stride, he pumped his fist and let out a primal scream. The sound served as the death knell in the Royals’ 9-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Tuesday night.