Is it too early to have a baseball catch of the year contender? I don’t think so, especially since this one involves two MLB stars in a WBC elimination game. And it’s even better in that it involves two stars that happen to play on the same major league team, the Baltimore Orioles.
Team USA led 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh, when the Dominican Republic’s Manny Machado cranked a flyball to very deep right-center. Machado certainly thought it was a dinger, and so did probably everyone else watching the game.
But Adam Jones had other ideas, and while on the run, UNBELIEVABLY robbed Machado of a homer. This is absolutely ridiculous, and even earned a tip of the cap from Machado:
The Dominican Republic could have had 2 homers in the 7th, if it wasn't for hometown hero @SimplyAJ10! #UnitedWeGrind 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/GAGffpEqgk
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 19, 2017
Gregory Bull // AP pic.twitter.com/vFpsgKHSk7
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) March 19, 2017
People in this photo, ranked
1. Adam Jones
2. Screaming blonde woman
3. Shocked dude on right
4. Backwards hat derp face
5. Yankee hat dude pic.twitter.com/rd22SoDKRW— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) March 19, 2017
The ball Adam Jones just caught is a HR 94% of the time. 106 MPH at a 26 degree launch angle. Wow amazing. pic.twitter.com/l8vNfyFIx1
— Daren Willman (@darenw) March 19, 2017
Oriole-on-Oriole crime.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 19, 2017
Wow, whata catch by Adam Jones to steal a home run. And o's teammate Manny Machado can do nothing but tip his cap!
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 19, 2017
Adam Jones and Machado saluting each other is a perfect image of everything beautiful about the WBC
— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) March 19, 2017
It doesn’t get any better than that, and could end up being a tournament-saving play for the USA. Robinson Cano would hit a solo shot for the Dominican Republic later in the inning, to trim the USA’s lead to one, but (literally as I’m typing this sentence) Andrew McCutchen just hit a two-run double to get the USA lead back up to 6-3 in the eighth.
This game has been a blast, and also included a two-run Giancarlo Stanton ROCKET homer.
Update: Team USA won the game 6-3, moves on to face Japan on Tuesday night in Los Angeles for the WBC semifinals. The Dominican Republic was eliminated with the loss.
[MLB Network]
Comments are closed.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.