No better time for his first dinger

Hillcats outfielder Jose De Los Santos is not a power hitter. Not close to it. His power? It comes from his legs and his ability to stretch ordinary singles into doubles thanks to his ridiculous speed. His last home run came in 2005 in the Dominican Summer League. In a professional game in the United States, he had never once gone yard and rarely came close to it.

This cannot be stressed enough: Jose De Los Santos is not a power hitter.

So when the ball first met bat in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday, and the sound of pure, square contact filled the night air the calls of “you’ve got to be kidding me” started. In the normally reserved press box, everyone shouted. In the stands, fans rose, wondering, “no, it couldn’t be.”

“I don’t think you were as stunned as the 25 guys in the dugout, or the three coaches and the two staff members,” Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes said.

The ball continued its flight, eventually touching down on the KFC sign on the bottom left of the scoreboard. De Los Santos didn’t need to sprint around the bases this time, but he did, eager to meet the bewildered teammates that had gathered near home plate, ready to celebrate the Hillcats’ 5-4 victory over Salem.

Lynchburg took a 2-0 lead in the Mills Cup championship series, which shifts across U.S. 460 to Salem Thursday for Game 3. And even 10 minutes after De Los Santos had touched home, players were still soaking in the unlikely turn of events.

“I can’t … believe that just happened,” Jared Keel said, shaking his head on the way back into the clubhouse.

De Los Santos, apparently, had more faith in himself in that situation than his teammates did.

“I waited for that pitch,” he said. “I know everybody was thinking I was going to take that pitch, but I was just thinking, if he threw it up over the middle, I was going to swing at it.”

So 1,380 at-bats into his professional career, De Los Santos has sent his team to the brink of winning a Mills Cup for the first time since 2002.

As amazing as De Los Santos’ homer was, it wasn’t the only odd turn of events at City Stadium. The Hillcats were on the right end of just about every 50-50 situation Tuesday. For example:

w With two outs in the fifth inning, De Los Santos hit a slow tapper to pitcher Stephen Fife. The throw to first was high, but Anthony Rizzo was able to come down with it. De Los Santos, first-base umpire Stu Scheurwater ruled, snuck a foot on the bag before Rizzo did. Rizzo argued vehemently that De Los Santos was out, but to no avail.

Kris Watts was on third and scored to tie the game at 1, and in the next at-bat, Chase d’Arnaud ripped a two-run double down the left-field line to put Lynchburg up 3-1.

w Salem regained the lead in the seventh thanks to Chih-Hsien Chiang’s three-run home run off Noah Krol, but the Red Sox gave it back in the eighth when pitcher Jason Blackey walked in Jamie Romak with the tying run.

D’Arnaud and Josh Harrison walked to lead off the inning, and Jordy Mercer popped up a bunt that could have been caught. But it hung in between Blackey and catcher Tim Federowicz, and Blackey couldn’t field it fast enough to throw Mercer out. With the bases loaded, Blackey fell behind 3-1 to Romak, and the fifth pitch was inside.

“That’s the situation that you always dream about being in,” Romak said. “It was almost eerily relaxing. I felt like the pressure was on him. He was in a tough spot. I was just looking for one pitch in one spot, and if I didn’t get it, I wasn’t swinging.”

Kyle Fernandes replaced Blackey, struck out Kris Watts and got Tony Sanchez to hit into a double play, so the game remained tied going into the ninth. Ronald Uviedo (1-1) mowed down the heart of the Salem order, striking out Brad Correll and forcing Mike Jones and Federowicz into pop-ups. That set the stage for De Los Santos.

Now, the Hillcats, who have regained the clutch hitting that gave them their first-half swagger, need just one more victory to clinch the championship.

“This game is such a game of momentum and emotion,” Forbes said. “I wish there wasn’t a day off tomorrow. … I reminded our guys that come Thursday, it’s got to be the same focus, same energy and the same desire to get it done, and get it done right now.

“You don’t want to let them back in. They’re too good a team.”