It appeared that the San Diego Padres’ Tommy Pham hit a game-tying two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night. Unfortunately, he hit the ball in the area of arguably the best defensive outfielder on the planet.
Pham hit a rope into the right-center field, and Mookie Betts — usually a right fielder, but playing center field with Cody Bellinger injured — got a great jump and made a ridiculous diving catch to give the Dodgers a 2-0 win.
Padres play-by-play man Don Orsillo of Bally Sports San Diego thought the ball got down for a game-tying hit at first, and understandably so. Betts barely got the heel of the glove under the ball to make the catch, and it was really hard to tell in real time- at least until Betts began celebrating.
MOOKIE DIVING CATCH TO WIN THE GAME VS. THE PADRES 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/k6Oj8vU8u4
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 18, 2021
And here’s how it looked and sounded on the Dodgers’ broadcast, with Joe Davis of SportsNet LA on the call:
MARKUS LYNN BETTS. pic.twitter.com/jeU6UnOBc9
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 18, 2021
That’s just a great baseball play and shows why the 28-year-old has won five Gold Glove awards (and why he got a $365 million contract).
The first two Dodgers-games of the season have been every bit as thrilling as anticipated, and it’s going to be a blast watching this matchup over the next few years.