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 their NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday night. 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 as it carried to the top of the outfield wall. The ball bounced off his glove and hit the wall, then 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. Since Frelick didn’t catch the ball, Muncy wasn’t out. But Hernández was, courtesy of a force-out at home.
William Contreras then ran to third base for a forceout of Will Smith, who had returned to second base amid the chaos. And the Dodgers didn’t score.
Here it is, in all its playoff baseball glory.
The live broadcast didn’t catch the third out. But Smith, like most of the rest of us, was confused by what was happening. Like many, he thought that Frelick caught the ball and returned to second base, not realizing that Muncy wasn’t out.
Contreras realized it. And as Smith was at second, he got up and ran to third base to touch it to force Smith out. Thankfully, another angle captured the heads-up play from Contreras.
Unreal.
In a matter of seconds, what looked like a potential Max Muncy grand slam resulted in no runs for the Dodgers. It’s hard 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 have surely scored. Had he not thrown the ball back for a perfect cutoff throw from Joey Ortiz to home plate, Hernández would have certainly scored. Had Contreras not acted quickly to force Smith out at third, the Dodgers’ inning would have remained alive with the bases loaded.
Instead, the Dodgers didn’t score. And the Brewers are the proud owners of one of the greatest defensive plays in baseball history.
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