After Daniel Murphy fouled off Mark Melancon’s cutter and broke his bat, the Washington Nationals’ second baseman was just happy he didn’t ground out. Murphy, who was pinch hitting in the ninth inning, had not had an at-bat since his three in the All-Star Game last Tuesday and missed the first two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates with left hamstring soreness.
Murphy grabbed a new bat, readied himself for the next cutter and slugged a home run.
“I think the nicest thing was [Melancon] made his pitch and I didn’t roll it over to the first baseman,” Murphy said.