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Giants Player's First Career Splash Home Run Into McCovey Cove Landed in Kayaker's Lap

Tim Capurso

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Does a splash hit, the nickname San Francisco Giants fans affectionately coined for home runs that land in the bay just beyond the right-field wall at Oracle Park, still count if it doesn't splash when it hits the water?

It sounds like a trick question, but it's the exact scenario that occurred during San Francisco's 7-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, as Giants catcher Patrick Bailey belted the first McCovey Cove home run of his career, a ball that, instead of splashing into the water, landed directly into a kayaker's lap.

Here's footage of the improbable dinger, courtesy of Cut4's account on X (formerly known as Twitter).

What a moment for the woman in the kayak, who happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch the 407-foot home run. And what a day it was for Bailey, who went 4-for-4 and finished a triple short of the cycle on a day when 15,000 fans received his bobblehead.

When told that his splash home run landed in the kayak and not the water, Bailey, with a laugh, said: "That's cool. Does that still count I guess?"

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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