Dirty double: Dickerson hits bouncing pitch for extra bases
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Corey Dickerson seems to be hitting everything these days, although even the Tampa Bay Rays slugger looked surprised by his double Tuesday night.
Dickerson connected with a bouncing pitch from Texas Rangers right-hander Nick Martinez and looped a standup double down the third-base line.
The major league hits leader lunged after Martinez's breaking ball and made contact shortly after it bounced just in front of home plate. The bloop dropped into shallow left field, and after rolling into second base easily, Dickerson smirked and shook his head.
Dickerson said it was the second time he had done it. In fact, it came up earlier this year with bench coach Tom Foley and others on the staff. He said it was off reliever Will Harris in 2013, when Harris was with Arizona and Dickerson was with Colorado.
''Foley and the coaches didn't believe me,'' Dickerson said. ''I pulled it up and showed it to 'em on the internet, and they laughed.''
Dickerson, who is tied with Colorado's Charlie Blackmon for the major league-lead with 72 hits, added a single in the seventh for his majors-leading 24th multihit game. He has an AL-best .346 batting average.
And Dickerson has one memorable hit this season on a ball that didn't even reach the plate.
''I was choked up. Two-strike approach,'' he said. ''That's where I maximize my hand-eye coordination. I definitely don't try to swing at those pitches consistently, but it is what it is.''
Manager Kevin Cash noticed.
''Corey can really cover the ball down in the dirt,'' he joked.
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