The person who first seemed to recognize that Alex Rodriguez had hit his 661st career home run Thursday night was Adam Jones, the Baltimore Orioles’ center fielder, who took a few steps toward the wall in left-center and then stopped, as if he knew his chase was futile, knew the ball was gone.
The fans at Yankee Stadium began sensing it, too, and rose to their feet. Pitcher Chris Tillman realized what was happening and dropped his head. The last to know might have been Rodriguez, who kept his eyes on the ball until it sank below the outfield barrier just to the left of Monument Park.