Quebecois Édouard Julien, author of his second career home run in Major League Baseball, Wednesday night at Fenway Park, had his homework done before taking on Boston Red Sox pitcher Corey Kluber.
“I knew he liked to throw his cutter, I looked up, in the middle of the area, and he randomly threw a cutter at me, starting in the middle, briefly analyzing the Twins rookie, after the 10-to-4 his team. I just had to let go of my hands.”
And how? The Quebec hitter’s quick hands sent the ball flying off his bat at 108.9 miles per hour.
“I could hit the ball in front of me, so the score was very good,” Julien admitted of his 418-foot home run, which allowed the Twins to add two valuable points in the first inning.
It was the second-longest homer of the season for a Twins player behind star Byron Buxton (423 feet). For comparison, Julien’s first long ball last Thursday at Yankee Stadium went 351 feet.
Single bruise
Julien also wore a bandage on one foot after Wednesday’s game but it was nothing serious, he assured. A simple bruise from a bullet that hit him.
“It’s just a bruise,” said the 23-year-old Quebecer.
In addition to his home run, Julien hit two singles during Wednesday’s game and finished the game with three hits in four official appearances.
- Pitcher Corey Kluber, victim of Wednesday’s Edouard Julien Circuit, twice won the American Cy Young Trophy in 2014 and 2017 while playing for Cleveland.