The fading game that bounced back 200 feet — not far enough to clear fences in the World Junior League Championship — could be the play that defined the Yankees’ entire season.
At the top of the 10th inning in Friday’s Game Two of the Major League Soccer series, Guardians III captain Jose Ramirez hits a weak shot into a shallow left field.
Oswaldo Cabrera came in, Josh Donaldson was out, and Ramirez was cruising through the bases much faster than the Yankees players chasing the ball. When the ball fell in front of the sprawling Cabrera, the kid still learning left field was able to trap the ball to keep it from rolling.
Then Donaldson got engaged.
The eager third baseman gaunted the ball, rotated it, and shot toward second base without looking at play. By then Ramirez was basically going second, and his hustle was earning him an easy double.
Just as he was about to put him in the park atop the second base bag, Ramirez watched as he threw Donaldson as he spiraled out in front of him in the right direction. Ramirez easily secured a third place finish, scoring on another dying quail one time later, and just like that, the Guardians captured the biggest moment in the biggest game of their season.
After the dust settled, Donaldson and Cabrera gave their opinion of the game-swinging bug that got away with them.
“We both were going for it,” Donaldson said. “I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was going forward with full force there, so I backed away. The ball stayed close [to us] And I thought I had a chance on a second, and pulled the throw a little bit trying to make a play. Jose Ramirez does what he does, he keeps running.”
Cabrera noted that the afternoon start time made things a little tricky, but he wouldn’t use that as an excuse to miss the ball in the 10th inning, when the sun was starting to set.
“it was hard [to see] For example, four runs,” he admitted. “I received a pop-up that was nowhere near the sun. I grabbed her, but she was like, “Whoa!”
Later on Day 10, quarterback Harrison Bader took an intriguing route toward a ball that sailed over his head to score two goals. It looked as if Badr had a hard time catching the ball off the bat, although Cabrera said from left field, ‘All is well.
The sun was not a part [of the Ramirez play]. we tried. [Donaldson] I tried to get that ball. I tried to get that ball. This is just a baseball game, you know? “
The postseason period has already been marked by many such plays, balls narrowly escaping from Felder’s gloves, leading to important rounds. The Phillies grabbed a ninth place in Game 1 of their Wild Card series on a ball that slid directly under the gauntlet of St. Louis second baseman Tommy Edman. The Mariners grabbed Game 2 of Toronto’s massive Wild Card game on a shallow fly ball that smashed quarterback George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette. Then, Seattle got a taste of its own drug on Thursday, when Houston shortstop Jeremy Pena tossed a ball into the field that made Jordan Alvarez the go-ahead.
Now, another play has been added to that lineup, one that Donaldson (who has been mistaken for his efforts) says he doesn’t regret at all.
“I think it would have been a big hit, even if I had given a really good throw,” he assessed. “At the moment, I thought I had a chance. But I didn’t make a great throw. At the end of the day I was trying to make a play. I’ll live with that.”
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Originally published at San Jose News Bulletin
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