A freaky thing happened in the bottom of the third inning of Monday night’s NLCS Game 7, as it appears as though Giants rightfielder Hunter Pence makes contact with the ball not once, not twice, but thrice on the same swing.  The bat shatters on initial contact, and the ball gets hit twice more on the follow through.  Because physics took over, the ball’s trajectory made like a screwball, which totally fooled St. Louis shortstop Pete Kozma, and Pence ended up on second base with a two run double.  San Francisco would score five runs in the inning en route to a 9-0 victory and a berth in the World Series.

Kind of fitting that the Giants improbable comeback in the NLCS was capped by a strange, broken bat double off the bat of Hunter Pence, now doesn’t it?

And for the record, Pence’s bizarre hit is totally legal, because even though Rule 6.05 (h) states that “a batter is ruled out and the play is ruled dead with no advancement by the runners when the batters hits a ball a second time in fair territory” there’s a addendum that says “if a bat breaks and part of it is in fair territory and is hit by a batted ball or part of it hits a runner or fielder, play shall continue and no interference called.”

So there’s that.

[GIF via MLB GIFS]