You’ve never seen this before.
The Los Angeles Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fourth inning in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. And they looked like they had runs incoming on a deep fly ball from Max Muncy. But the Brewers responded with one of the wildest double plays in baseball history.
Center fielder Sal Frelick leapt and touched the ball with his glove before it hit the outfield wall. The ball bounced off his glove and then ricocheted off the wall, back into his glove as he landed on the warning track.
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Frelick then threw back to the infield, and a cutoff throw to home plate beat Teoscar Hernández, who was running from third. Because Frelick did not catch the ball, Muncy wasn’t out. But Hernández was, courtesy of a force-out at home.
Brewers catcher William Contreras then ran to third base for a force-out of Will Smith, who had returned to second base amid the chaos, thinking he needed to tag when he actually needed to advance to third.
With that, the inning was over, and the Dodgers didn’t score.
Here is the play, in all its playoff baseball glory:
The live broadcast didn’t catch the third out. And Smith, like most of us, was confused by what was happening. Like many, he thought Frelick caught the ball, and so he returned to second base, not realizing that Muncy wasn’t out.
Contreras and third baseman Caleb Durbin did realize it. So as Smith stood at second, Contreras got up and ran to third to touch the base and force Smith out. Another angle captured the heads-up play from Contreras.
Unreal.
In a matter of seconds, what looked like a potential Max Muncy grand slam — or, at the very least, a two-RBI double — resulted in no runs for the Dodgers. It’s tough to tell if the ball would have traveled over the wall without Frelick’s play. Regardless, his and his teammates’ sensational defense almost certainly saved two runs, if not four.
Had Frelick not secured the ball off the ricochet, multiple Dodgers runs would’ve surely scored. Had he not thrown the ball back for a perfect cutoff throw from Joey Ortiz to home plate, Hernández would’ve certainly scored. Had Contreras not acted quickly to force Smith out at third, the Dodgers’ inning would’ve remained alive with the bases still loaded.
Instead, the Dodgers didn’t score a single run. And the Brewers are the proud owners of one of the greatest defensive plays in baseball history.
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