What It Feels Like to Hit a Walk-off Home Run

“You ain’t gonna get the hit,” my Minnesota Twins teammate, Ryan Jeffers, had said to me. He was joking, of course. Both of us were in a good place. But the game was close. We were down 2–3 to the Royals in the eighth on August 10.

Austin Martin, A-Mar, hit a ball to left field and turned it into a triple. Awesome, I thought. We have a window here. Then Jeffers hit him in. A sigh of relief. Tied up 3–3 going into the ninth.

Our pitching looked awesome during extra innings. Michael Tonkin kept throwing up zeros and hitting the spots. We went into the 11th confident.

Keaschall celebrating his walk-off home run in the dugout.

That’s when Jeffers teased me. “Well, if you do, it’s over either way,” I joked back.

With Clemens on first and A-Mar on second, Jeffers lined the ball to center on a good swing, but it was caught. A-Mar tried to tag up but got thrown out at third. Two outs.

I thought to myself, I gotta hit a homer. That’s the only option. I’ve never told myself that—ever. Even a single would’ve been fine.

But as I stepped up to the plate, I felt ready to face a heater. Just get on top of it and hit hard. The pitch lined up where I was looking. I put my best swing on it.

And the ball went over the fence.

The stadium was loud. Tons of excitement came over me. I started jumping like a little kid, going nuts. I could’ve run through a brick wall. As I rounded the bases, I kept on looking back at the dugout, looking at my teammates, just wanting to get there and celebrate, go beat some guys up.

After the game and the media rounds, I packed my bags to make a flight. When I finally got on, I settled down to catch my breath. There would be another game tomorrow night.

I’ve always prided myself on being a confident player. Trusting what I can do. That walk-off was reassurance—just go out there and be the same guy every day. I was ready for tomorrow night.