With Patrick Bailey’s inside-the-park homer, Giants are back in the memory-making business

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Patrick Bailey had one objective in mind. More than winning the game or celebrating with teammates or adding to his home run total, the Giants’ catcher was focused on something far more important as he sprinted 360 feet around the bases Tuesday night.

“Just don’t fall over,” he said.

Mission accomplished. Bailey eventually fell over, but it was after he completed his unlikely inside-the-park, walk-off home run to beat the Phillies 4-3 before a stunned and elated crowd at quirky Oracle Park, the only major-league venue where a play like this could occur.

Bailey isn’t known for his speed. He has no stolen bases. No attempts. He usually goes station to station. That is, if he reaches base at all. The gifted defensive catcher has struggled at the plate all season with a sub-.200 batting average and one home run in the first 93 games.

But in the bottom of the ninth inning of game No. 94, with a couple of teammates aboard and the Giants trailing 3-1, Jordan Romano threw a first-pitch fastball across the heart of the plate, and Bailey took a mighty upper cut and ran like he never ran before — 16.59 seconds from home to home at 27.4 feet per second, which has to be a personal record.

It could have been quicker, but he stood at the plate a few extra moments to admire the monster blow, which explains his 5.57-second, home-to-first chug.

“I think that’s the fastest he’s ever run. He was absolutely moving,” said Casey Schmitt, who opened the rally with a double to left and moved to third on pinch hitter Wilmer Flores’ sizzling single past Romano’s head.

“When you’re sniffing a home run, if you run hard, they’ll come,” said Brett Wisely, who pinch ran for Flores. “It’s crazy.”

“We were going nuts in here,” said Robbie Ray, who pitched into the sixth inning and watched the rest of the game from the clubhouse.

Bailey’s average speed this year is 25.6 feet per second, ranking him tied for 436th out of 499 big-leaguers. The only slower Giants: two backup catchers (Andrew Knizner and Sam Huff, who’s no longer on the team) and two designated hitters (Flores and Rafael Devers, who’s playing through groin and back issues).

The ball was hit so hard, 103.4 mph off the bat, and so far, 414 feet, that everyone in the Giants’ dugout thought the ball would clear the big brick wall in right-center, enabling Bailey to jog around the bases with a three-run homer. Instead, it blasted off the very top of the wall and forcefully ricocheted toward center field along the warning track.

According to technological calculations from Statcast, it would have been a home run in the 29 other parks. But Statcast was wrong. It was a homer at Oracle Park, too. It just didn’t play out in traditional fashion.

“Off the bat, I knew I got it well,” Bailey said. “Then obviously I saw it was toward Triples Alley. And I was like, ‘Oh, I gotta go. I at least got to get to third here.’”

Right fielder Nick Castellanos was helpless as he chased down the ball only to watch it bounce weirdly past him as well as center fielder Brandon Marsh, who had to make a U-turn and then took seemingly forever to track it down past the 391-foot marker in dead center.

After rounding second, Bailey noticed third-base coach Matt Williams frantically waving him home. There was no stopping. No slowing down. It was go time. Bailey turned the corner and made his final sprint home as second baseman Edmundo Sosa feebly flung the ball toward the plate.

Way off line. Didn’t matter. Giants players stormed out of the dugout, knowing Bailey would have beaten a perfect throw. His momentum took him in a straight line to the backstop area, where he dropped to the ground, out of breath.

“I got in the fetal position,” Bailey said. “Everyone was tugging on my jersey.”

The jersey was torn off. Gallons of Gatorade were dumped on his body. Your basic baseball celebration for such a fantastic finish, which triggered pandemonium and loud and lasting roars from what was left of a sellout crowd of 40,212.

This was the first inside-the-park, walk-off homer by a catcher in 99 years since Washington’s Bennie Tate pulled it off in 1926. It was the Giants’ second game-ending inside-the-parker since 1932 and first since Angel Pagan’s memorable magic ride, which was ceremoniously accompanied the final 90 feet by third base coach Tim Flannery in 2013.

Manager Bob Melvin called Bailey’s gem “Ichiro-esque,” referring to Ichiro Suzuki legging out the only inside-the-park homer in All-Star history at the Giants-hosted 2007 game. On that one, the ball hit the wall and ricocheted toward right field much to center fielder Ken Griffey Jr.’s chagrin.

In the end, the Giants secured their majors-high ninth walk-off victory and won their fourth in a row and sixth in seven games. They moved five games behind the first-place Dodgers, who have dropped five straight.

Bailey enjoyed his most memorable moment as a Giant. For one day, a rough offensive season was in the past. It was all about the here and now, and everyone in the clubhouse was thrilled for him. He completed the 360-foot journey without falling over, and it was euphoria, ecstasy, and elation all rolled into one.

“Tired,” he said, explaining his initial reaction. “I wish it would’ve gone over the fence.”