Xander Bogaerts nearly had his first home run of the 2020 season on Sunday, but Baltimore Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander had other plans.
Bogaerts hit an opposite-field fly ball in the bottom of the 4th inning that looked like it had a chance to leave the ballpark near Pesky’s Pole, which is the shortest part of Fenway Park. Santander reached into the front row of the empty stands and pulled it back.
Santander made that outstanding play after hitting a two-run homer to give the Orioles a 6-1 lead in the top of the inning, so he made his presence felt both in the field and at the plate.
Byron Buxton is one of the most exciting young players in baseball, and the Minnesota Twins center fielder showed us why with an acrobatic play he made on Sunday.
With the Twins leading 3-2 over the Detroit Tigers in the top of the third inning, Christin Stewart drove a ball deep to center field that looked like it had a chance to leave the ballpark. However, Buxton tracked it down and made an incredible catch while slamming into the wall.
Buxton was unable to play much last season because of injuries, but he appeared to be on the verge of a breakout when he hit .253 with 16 home runs and stole 29 bases in 2017. He has the ability to help the Twins in all phases of the game, which is why we listed him as one of our top breakout candidates for 2019. There are plenty more plays like that one to come from the 25-year-old.
France should have fallen into a very early 1-0 hole in their World Cup semifinal match against Belgium on Tuesday, but their goalkeeper had other plans.
Belgium was awarded a corner kick in the 21st minute, and a fortunate bounce left defenseman Toby Alderweireld with a clean look near the top of the box. He got a shot off on goal, and France goaltender Hugo Lloris made arguably the best save of the tournament.
Those are the types of saves that keep World Cup hopes alive. Should France go on to win the whole thing, that will easily be remembered as one of the moments that made it possible.
While there is still a long way to go in the MLB season, we are fairly confident the catch of the year has already been made, and it came at the minor league level.
Eric Jenkins, an outfielder in the Texas Rangers’ organization who currently plays for the Single-A Down East Wood Ducks, made an incredible catch on Sunday that sent him flipping over the fence in left field.
OH. MY. GOODNESS: @GoWoodDucks outfielder @Jenk_02 just made one of the CRAZIEST catches I have ever seen. Full speed. Flips over the wall.
That will be tough to top at any level. Jenkins almost made the play look easy, but we can assure you it was not. Of all the amazing catches we have seen on the baseball diamond, that is up there with some of the best.
Austin Jackson on Tuesday pulled off what may be one of the best home run-robbing catches at Fenway Park we’ve ever seen.
During the bottom of the fifth inning of the Red Sox-Indians game, the Cleveland center fielder raced towards the Red Sox bullpen and leaped to rob Hanley Ramirez of a home run:
Jackson went so high over the short fence that he flipped over into the bullpen.
The fans at Fenway appreciated the catch that robbed one of their players so much that they applauded Jackson when he came to the plate in the top of the sixth inning. Plays like that can sometimes supersede rivalries between teams.
Chris Coghlan went full Willie Mays Hayes to score a run for the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
Coghlan walked with one out in the 7th inning of Toronto’s clash with the Cardinals. Kevin Pillar drove a ball to deep right off the wall, which had Coghlan motoring around the bases.
By the time he got towards home, Yadier Molina was waiting as the throw from right was up the line. Coghlan was thinking quickly and decided to dive over the catcher to avoid the tag. It was glorious:
Both UTEP and FIU brought their fans phenomenal endings to their men’s and women’s basketball games Thursday night. And while the two games weren’t identical in the way they played out, they were about as close as you can get.
What do we mean by that? Both the UTEP-FIU men’s and women’s games ended on buzzer-beaters in overtime. But that’s not all. The final score in both games was 88-87. On the men’s side, UTEP won in double-OT when guard Dominic Artis beat the clock with a fadeaway jumper.
In the women’s game, it was FIU that emerged victorious. The Golden Panthers trailed UTEP 87-85 in triple-OT when Kristian Hudson launched a prayer from just inside half court. It went in.
