Much has been made of the debate on whether or not the National League should adopt the Designated Hitter. If it were to do that, we'd never see one of the more exciting occurrences in a major-league game: pitchers hitting home runs. Madison Bumgarner wouldn't be campaigning to participate in the Home Run Derby, and we'd never see Tim Hudson make Bryce Harper run into another wall.
Neither of them, however, compare to what Tony Cloninger did against the Giants.
Cloninger, Atlanta's 25-year-old right-hander from North Carolina, was starting against Giants lefty Joe Gibbon. Cloninger was no stranger to hitting home runs; he had hit one the previous year, and two in a start the previous month against the Mets.