Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
After taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth, the Braves turned a dramatic game-ending double play
Trailing 1-0 in their best-of-five series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Atlanta Braves desperately needed to even things up before heading to Philadelphia.
They did just that, in dramatic fashion.
The Braves not only overcame a four-run deficit in their 5-4 victory on Monday night, but they ended the game with an incredible double play that left the Phillies, and their fans, absolutely stunned.
Trailing by one run in the top of the ninth inning, the Phillies put the tying run on board when Bryce Harper walked to start the inning. Atlanta summoned Raisel Iglesias out of the bullpen to face catcher J.T. Realmuto, whose two-run home run in the top of the third gave the visitors a 3-0 lead. Iglesias got Realmuto to fly out to center fielder Michael Harris II for the first out of the inning.
That brought Nick Castellanos to the plate, who launched a rocket to right-center field. Off the bat it looked like a potential extra base hit, if not a go-ahead home run.
But Harris had other ideas:
Harris makes a leaping catch at the wall to rob Castellanos of what might have been a huge hit, but suddenly the Phillies have bigger problems. Harper — who is an aggressive base runner — had already rounded second by the time the center fielder pulled in the catch. The Phillies slugger raced back towards first as the throw comes in from Harris, and while it gets by the middle infielders, third baseman Austin Riley is the man on the spot. Riley scoops up the loose ball and fires to first for the third out of the inning, ending the game.
Many have wondered why Harper might have been so aggressive in that situation, given that there was only one out in the inning. First off, he represented the tying run. Second, the ball came off Castellanos’ bat with an exit velocity of 100.8 mph, one of the harder hit balls in the game. Beyond that, the shot from Castellanos had an Expected Batting Average (xBA) of .610, and would have been a home run in five of the 30 MLB parks.
So you can understand why Harper might have been off to the races in that situation.
The Braves also shared this incredible angle of the play, with only the ballpark noise:
That was not the only big play that Riley made in the game. After all, it was his blast in the bottom of the eighth, a two-run shot, that gave Atlanta the 5-4 lead:
Game 3 is slated for Wednesday in Philadelphia. You might want to tune in.
