The SF Giants defeated Atlanta 8-5 on Sunday afternoon, avoiding a sweep against the best team in MLB on ESPN's broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball. With a captivated national audience tuning in, the Giants stumbled into the history books in one of the wildest plays of the season.
With runners on second and third base and one out in the top of the fifth inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a grounder to first baseman J.D. Davis. Davis tossed the ball to pitcher Scott Alexander without realizing Alexander had no shot to beat Acuña to the bag. Luckily, second baseman Thairo Estrada hustled over to cover first base. Alexander quickly caught the throw from Davis and tossed the ball to Estrada for an out. Amidst the chaos, Orlando Arcia attempted to score from third base. Estrada managed to throw him out at the plate.
"It's a really heads-up play by Scott, obviously, to read the fact that there was no chance he was going to get to first base," Giants manager Gabe Kapler said about the play following the game. "J.D. did exactly what he was supposed to do, right? He's going to flip it to the pitcher because it's all he really can do. He doesn't really know where Thairo is in space. And then Thairo really heads up play at first base, and then great tag by Pat. It was one of the more fun plays we've had all year."
It was undeniably a wild turn of events. For a brief moment, everyone at Oracle Park believed Acuña was going to load the bases with an infield hit. Then, in a flash, the inning was over.
"I was screaming my head off for about 30 seconds before we challenged it," said pitcher Tristan Beck. "That was one of the crazier plays I've ever seen. That was awesome."
Who knows how the game would have turned out if the Giants had not pulled off the double play, but things would have undoubtedly been closer. After all, if not for Estrada's heads-up play, they may not have recorded a single out. Instead of escaping the jam, Alexander would have had to face the heart of Atlanta's lineup with the bases loaded and one out. And if not for Bailey's tag, Atlanta would have added another run and kept the rally going.
"When you play teams like Atlanta that are very aggressive running the bases, you have to be on top of your game," Estrada said when asked about the play. "Plus, I know how they play, their style, that they're very aggressive. You cannot blink once because if you blink, you're in trouble."
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