They call baseball a game of inches. You don’t need to tell that to Adolis Garcia.

With two on in the seventh inning, he hit a ball that looked like it cleared the yellow railing in Tropicana Field for his first major league home run. But, it turns out, he missed clearing it by less than a half inch.

The ball ricocheted off the yellow railing and Garcia realized he could get his first home run out of this anyway, just an inside-the-park kind.

He chugged around the bases and, like the two men on before him, headed for home. Where he was thrown out. By less than a half inch. He had to settle for his first major league triple.

Combine the distances he missed a home run on both ends of the play and it might not even measure an inch.

It’s a cruel game sometimes. But his triple broke open the game and helped his team cruise to a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay.

No matter how you measure that, it’s huge.

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