Rhys Hoskins Celebrates Homer With 2019's Slowest Jog In Baseball

It's been a brutal week of baseball for the Phillies, with a number of close losses, frustrating plays, a torrent of injuries to important players, and, to cap it all off, a 9-0 loss to the Mets Tuesday night that included Mets pitcher Jacob Rhame plunking Rhys Hoskins in the 9th inning. Hoskins clearly thought it was intentional, and he voiced his displeasure. Wednesday night, Hoskins had the chance to face Rhame again in the 9th inning.

This time things ended with a different result.

Hoskins turned on Rhame's offering and launched it 342 feet over the left field wall, per StatCast, for his seventh homer of the year. The shot put the Phillies on top 6-0, but it also put an exclamation mark on an emotional series that has reignited the virulence of a recently dormant but never forgotten rivalry between Philadelphia and New York.

Hoskins did not overtly celebrate his homer, or flip his bat, or pump his fist. However, he did take his time trotting around the base paths:

In fact, his trot of 34.23 seconds is the longest trot taken in all of baseball in 2019. It's also the longest of his career by over five seconds, which, when you consider how short it is around the bases, is pretty considerable.

In fact, it is likely one of the slowest trots in baseball history. When Hall of Famer David "Big Papi" Ortiz set what was considered the "record" back in 2014, his trot only lasted 32.91 seconds. Historic records were not kept, of course, but Hoskins jog Wednesday is certainly up there.

The Phillies end their road trip in Colorado and New York at a dissapointing 2-5, but their decisive win puts them back in first place in the NL East and sets a good tone for their coming homestand.

"We needed something like this to kind of light a fire under us," Hoskins told NBC Philadelphia after the game.

Hoskins also had a triple on the night, bringing his season average up to .273, with a .982 OPS. That's second among all National League first basemen.

After a run against mostly playoff-caliber teams to start the season, the Phillies return home Thursday to begin a nine-game home stand, including six games against the Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers. They're tied at 13-11 for first place with the Mets, with the Atlanta Braves (12-11) and Washington Nationals (11-12) close behind.