A big sigh of relief erupted from Eloy Jimenez after he hit his 500th career homer. The New York left fielder said, “I’m glad it’s over…now I can go back to just playing baseball.”
It was quite a day for Jimenez. He got his name in the league record books with 2 hits, 2 runs batted in, scored 2 runs and his team, the New York Yankees beat the New York Mets 3-2.
Jimenez knew it when he hit it. He raised his hands in the air, then ran the bases like a high school player, clapping and grinning.
He told reporters in the postgame interview, “I was acting goofy running the bases… but it was my 500th home run.”
“It was great,” his manager said. “He stood there and watched it…we all did. You just felt it was coming…you just had a sense he would hit it soon. He has been having a lot of good at-bats. It was great to get it out of the way.”
Lifetime Jimenez is batting .267 with 436 doubles, 20 triples, 501 home runs and 1310 RBIs in 1954 games.