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Why Hunter Pence tried to steal 2 bases on 1 pitch

Bill Streicher / USA TODAY Sports

This is very little about Hunter Pence that we could consider “orthodox,” other than his ability to produce on the baseball diamond.

He’s a great player, one who probably doesn’t get his due because of his overriding weirdness. But he’s a smart player who can hit for power, steal bases, and field his position well.

When he reached base in the eighth inning of scoreless game, Pence had one thing on his mind. His Giants needed a run and the Phillies battery of A.J. Burnett and Carlos Ruiz are terrible at holding potential base stealers at bay.

So Pence took off to run, in doing so setting off a bizarre chain of events.

Bizarre act number one - oversliding the bag

Rain delayed Wednesday night’s game by nearly an hour, making the field slick and covered in Quick Dry. Pence slid into second base and kept on going, leaving the bag in his dust.

Not wholly uncommon, but Pence’s sliding form is not exactly textbook, increasing his chances of continuing on into left field.

Bizarre act number two - the dash

This is the part that separates Hunter Pence from you, me, and most members of our species. Sliding past the bag isn’t unique, players do it all the time. Generally, their response is scrambling back to the base, occasionally trying to hurdle their prone opponent while avoiding a tag.

Pence prefers to just pick up and continue on to third base as if it was his only recourse.

Bizarre act number three - Pence pulls away

From a skating into the outfield on his backside, suddenly Pence starts pulling away from Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins. A man this big (and gangly) such as Pence possesses that kind of breakaway speed? Crazy.

He’s going to do this! He’s going to steal two bases on one pitch! Oh, wait. The Phillies do, in fact, have a third baseman.

Bizarre act number four - an even worse slide

All but dead to rights when the ball arrives in Andres Blanco’s glove, Pence doesn’t want to end up in his own dugout with a repeat performance of his previous slide. So he opts for something resembling a roll instead.

His second strange slide and, finally, Pence’s futile third base siege is over. And, he's out. Just your typical 2-6-5 caught stealing. See that one in the box scores all the time. One of the strangest plays you’ll ever see by easily the strangest player in baseball today.

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