Last Night in Baseball: D-backs make nearly impossible 9th-inning comeback
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There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves.
That’s why we’re here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days’ games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:
Diamondbacks win, against all odds
The Diamondbacks, by win probability, had a 0.1% chance of victory on Thursday against the Braves. Not entering the ninth inning, no, but after Eugenio Suárez led off the top of the frame with a strikeout against reliever Scott Blewett, putting Arizona in a 10-4 hole and down to their last two outs. And then things changed.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would hit a solo homer, making it 10-5 Atlanta, and bringing Arizona’s win probability all the way up to 0.2%. Hey, it doubled, that’s something. Tim Tawa would then draw a walk and advance to second on defensive indifference — what was the point of trying to stop him, up 10-5 in the ninth?
It turns out the real reason that the Braves didn’t need to worry about Tawa advancing is because Alek Thomas was about to hit a two-run homer that would score him from anywhere — suddenly, it was 10-7 Braves, and with still just the one out.
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Jose Herrera followed with a walk, so, the Braves removed Blewett, who had pitched the eighth and was supposed to be in for mop-up duty, and put in Raisel Iglesias. Corbin Carroll would then double off of Iglesias, putting two runners in scoring position with one out for Ketel Marte. The Diamondbacks were up to a 10.1% win probability at this point. Marte would single in Herrera, pushing the score to 10-8 and the probability to 16.5%. Geraldo Perdomo would then pop out to short, slashing that figure nearly in half, as the D-backs were still behind by two, and with two runners on, yes, but two outs.
Ildemargo Vargas would follow by singling in Carroll, pushing Marte to second, and making it 10-9 Braves. Suárez, who led off the inning by making the first out, would make up for that in one swing: he doubled, clearing the bases in the process, and the Diamondbacks, against the odds, now had an 11-10 lead over Atlanta. Shelby Miller would come on in relief for Arizona, face three batters, and end things with a double play. From 0.1% to a win, and the chart showing as much is as wild to look at as you’d imagine it to be:
It’s not just that the Braves were up 10-4 to start the ninth, but they were up early: they scored their first run in the second, and then five more in the third, another four along the way. Arizona scored three in the fourth, then their bats went quiet until a solo shot by Marte in the eighth, leaving very little hope for a win from basically the second inning onward. And yet! Baseball.
Hayes shows off range, arm
For the rest of the recap of last night, we’re going to play a little game of back-and-forth. First, you’ll see a great defensive effort, and then, you’ll see the opposite of that. Balance is important in life, you see.
First up is Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who made an absurd stop and strong throw on a play that feels like it shouldn’t have happened [complimentary].
That ball was as close to foul as you can get, and Hayes just snagged it on a hop at the line, then, while still having his momentum carry him in the opposite direction of where he needed to go, turned and threw hard enough to reach first base on time with a one-hopper. Beautiful stuff.
Rangers show they do not know where they are
And here’s another play that shouldn’t have happened [derogatory].
First baseman Josh Smith had been playing well off of the bag to begin with, and then he gave chase on the grounder to second by Taylor Walls despite the fact that Marcus Semien was back there, ranging. It doesn’t help that Smith didn’t even try to get back, though — he just stands there as everything happens around him. Semien fielded the ball, but had nowhere to throw it, since Smith wasn’t close enough to first to bother with going back to cover it, while the pitcher, Robert Garcia, didn’t make it in time.
Semien, holding onto the ball and trying to find somewhere to go with it, realized just a moment too late that Junior Caminero had not just gone from second to third on the play, but was also headed home: the throw did not make it in time to get Caminero, and the Rays walked it off essentially because first base was left open by the decision to shade Smith more toward second before the play. Excellent stuff from Caminero, less so by everyone else involved.
What a dive!
This dive by Bobby Witt Jr. looks great at full speed. When you see the zoomed-in replay and then the slowed down version, though, you realize just how far he extended in order to make the play.
That is basically instinctual: Witt didn’t think, he reacted. And once again it’s incredible to think that this guy’s defense was ever a question mark. It was, though! He was awful out there at the start of his career. And now he’s doing stuff like this that make him as much of a boost to the Royals with a glove as with a bat.
This play also features a dive
Witt Jr.’s dive might have been instinctual and a thing of beauty, but when Mets’ pitcher Reed Garrett went down in the bottom of the eighth against the Dodgers, things were not quite so elegant. With the Mets up 5-4 and trying to take three of four from Los Angeles, a grounder to Brett Baty at third should have been an easy out at the plate, but instead, catcher Francisco Alvarez failed to reel in the throw. Chaos ensued.
Alvarez went looking for the ball, which had ended up in Garrett’s glove. Garrett could very well have tagged Will Smith, but Alvarez was still moving around home plate, and crashed right into the other half of the Mets’ battery. Garrett went down, half intentionally to get to the plate and half because a catcher in full gear just ran into him, but he couldn’t tag Smith.
The Dodgers would win, 6-5, as Michael Conforto would then drive in Andy Pages, who had made it to first on the fielder’s choice that resulted in the error and Smith scoring in the first place. The Mets might have won the season series against Los Angeles, but had to settle for a series split here.
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