While the Seattle Mariners held a comfortable five-run lead heading into the ninth inning of Monday’s game with the Boston Red Sox, things got interesting. And right when the game seemed like it would get really tense, Seattle’s J.P. Crawford came through with a tremendous play.
Boston had already scored a run and had runners on the corners when Masataka Yoshida came up with two outs in the ninth inning. Yoshida worked a full count against Mariners pitcher Isaiah Campbell, then hit a scorching line drive up the middle on the 3-2 pitch.
While it seemed to be destined for the outfield, Crawford had other ideas. He made a leaping dive to bring the ball in and secured Seattle’s 6-2 victory.
"Up the middle, J.P…WOW. WHAT A PLAY. GAME OVER. AND THE MARINERS BEAT BOSTON 6-2. THAT MIGHT HAVE SAVED THE BALLGAME FROM CONTINUING. OH, MY GOODNESS. WHAT A PLAY FROM J.P. CRAWFORD."pic.twitter.com/4tPlUA11Zd
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 1, 2023
The MLB world was impressed by Crawford’s unreal game-ending grab.
J.P. Crawford is unreal pic.twitter.com/mVmrLtYTWS
— ROOT SPORTS™ | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) August 1, 2023
That J.P. Crawford catch replay needs Tiantic music.
— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) August 1, 2023
I LOVE JP CRAWFORD pic.twitter.com/BtifnIoSQr
— Switch (@IISwitchII) August 1, 2023
J.P. Crawford catch of the day 🔥
Mariners RL +170 ✅pic.twitter.com/771eAufFVT
— BetRivers Sportsbook (@BetRivers) August 1, 2023
cannot overstate the degree to which SEA would be toast without Crawford quietly leveling up into one of the best all-around SS in MLB. that's mostly due to his gains on offense but while the metrics suddenly dislike him he's continued to make SO many amazing plays like this one https://t.co/Kn6y8u4Dpn
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) August 1, 2023
On Friday, we saw Chicago Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman rob a would-be two-run walk-off homer for the final out, securing a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Crawford’s catch may not have had quite those stakes, as even if Yoshida had homered, the Mariners still would have been leading. Still, it was quite significant.
If Yoshida’s line drive gets through, at least one run would have scored. More importantly, it would have brought the tying run to the plate in Rafael Devers, Boston’s star third baseman who has 25 home runs on the season and was 3-for-4 on Monday.
So, could the Mariners have still won the game if Crawford hadn’t made that catch. Sure. But we can confidently say that they’re quite happy it didn’t get to that.
[Photo Credit: ROOT Sports Northwest]
