Pittsburgh Pirates' Josh Palacios Makes History With Walk Off Home Run on Birthday
On top of clinching a win for his team, Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Josh Palacios joined some pretty elite company with his walk-off home run against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
Palacios crushed a two-run shot to right in the bottom of the 10th inning, ending his 28th birthday with a bang. The outfielder finished a triple shy of the cycle and made sure to celebrate all the way around the bases.
Per OptaSTATS, Palacios is the fourth MLB player this century to hit a walk-off home run on his birthday. The other three are Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Andruw Jones.
While Rodriguez and Bonds are not currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame due to their ties to steroids, Jones has been creeping towards induction over the past few years, putting Palacios right alongside three of the game's most prolific modern sluggers.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton also celebrated his birthday Sunday.
Palacios is on his third team in three years, spending 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays and 2022 with the Washington Nationals. Both clubs waived him, though, as he only put up a .207 batting average and .498 OPS across 42 major league appearances with them.
The Pirates scooped up Palacios in December, and he joined the active roster in May. Palacios was in the starting lineup 26 times across his first 35 games, but he was moved to the bench back on July 4.
Palacios made his first start in four weeks on Sunday, and he made the most of it by going 3-for-5 with his second career home run. On the season, he is hitting .252 with 15 RBI and a .681 OPS.
The Pirates have now won back-to-back series, taking two out of three against both the Phillies and San Diego Padres. Pittsburgh is still 47-58, though, which puts them fourth in the NL Central.
Palacios and the Pirates have Monday off, but will return to action Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. First pitch from Pittsburgh is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
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