smash hit

Well, that didn’t take long. The first of what will surely be many “You Gotta See This” moments in 2019 for Mississippians in the majors was produced by Mitch Moreland on Friday night. The ex-Mississippi State star from Amory clobbered — yes, clobbered — a three-run, go-ahead, pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning to propel Boston to a 7-6 win at Seattle. Moreland, who had a quiet spring and went 0-for-3 in the world champion Red Sox’s opener on Thursday, yanked a 2-0 fastball from Hunter Strickland out of T-Mobile Park for his fourth career pinch homer and 148th bomb overall. … To be fair, Moreland’s homer was not the first by a Mississippian this season. Corey Dickerson, the former Meridian Community College star from McComb, went deep for Pittsburgh on Thursday, but Moreland’s blast was a lot more impactful.