Hey did you guys see what month it is? Here let me help:
— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 1, 2021
Unfortunately, Dustin May left the game last night with an injury so let’s swap it out real quick:
Tonight’s winning pitcher pic.twitter.com/oGnRUUAwDn
— Danny Abriano (@DannyAbriano) May 2, 2021
Ok cool, with that out of the way, let’s get into the best stuff from Saturday.
For My Next Trick…
I’m glad to include this next play because it involves Alejandro Kirk, as he hits a grounder to Austin Riley. Riley wasn’t in the mood to make just any play, as he kind of somehow slapped the ball up in the air, then bobbled it a bit barehanded, and still got the throw off in time. So maybe I shouldn’t be glad to include it, but it’s a heck of a play.
https://gfycat.com/keywiltedeyra
Here’s an alternate angle that shows just how quick Riley had to be:
The recovery. The scoop. 😯 pic.twitter.com/irfTw8F97w
— MLB (@MLB) May 2, 2021
The Magical Vanishing Ball
Dundedin wasn’t the only site of baseball magic though, as Eric Hosmer and Blake Snell made a baseball disappear.
https://gfycat.com/wearylongcapeghostfrog
I don’t know if there’s really anything I can add to that clip that you can’t see for yourself, as Snell just barely gets the ball past Austin Slater, and Hosmer somehow manages to both catch it and get his mitt out of the way before he gets run over. Whew.
Po Knows
In Pittsburgh, Gregory Polanco ran down a foul ball to make the final out of the top of the 6th inning:
https://gfycat.com/amusedthoroughdiamondbackrattlesnake
I mean, they played the bumper music and showed the box, so that’s it, right? Wrong, as it appeared that the Cardinals might challenge the play, and Sam Howard wasn’t sure who he should stare down to get an answer.
https://gfycat.com/exaltededibleivorybilledwoodpecker
But Polanco was sure he did everything by the book
https://gfycat.com/calmmadallosaurus
And he was right, as the Cards didn’t end up challenging anything and everybody was free to move on to the bottom half.
Breakin 2(3): Electric Tatís
In his ongoing quest to prove every night why he might just be the coolest guy in the sport, Fernando Tatís Jr demonstrated that he can look rad even when he can’t make the play, turning a grounder that just evades his mitt into a sweet backspin.
https://gfycat.com/shimmeringacrobatichog
https://gfycat.com/costlydescriptivehornet
Later in the game, he successfully fielded a line drive right at him, but he wasn’t going to just catch the ball, duh.
https://gfycat.com/celebratedgraygopher
chef kiss
Trout Moves Up The Board
You guys heard about this Mike Trout guy? Seems like he’s pretty good at baseball. And this year he seems out to remind everybody that he is actually the best player in the game, slashing .429/.527/.805, which is good for a 269 wRC+. That’ll help you rack up some WAR, and sure enough, he passed another good player you might have heard of on the all-time leaderboard last night:
With Trout's 28th career HR in T-Mobile Park, he has passed Ken Griffey Jr. (77.7 fWAR) on the all time WAR list. He is now 41st alltime 😳 pic.twitter.com/wxm4zbygrM
— Diamond Digest (@Diamond_Digest) May 2, 2021
A timely reminder that Trout is 29 years old.
Modern Romance
The ballpark is probably a popular spot for a date, but how many people have a famous roomie with enough pull to get a team’s attention?
Hey @Dbacks my roommate is on a date 6 rows above home plate. Any chance we could tell the camera man to zoom out a bit so I can see how it’s going???
— BuckArmy (@BuckArmy) May 2, 2021
The D-Backs took the mission upon themselves, although it appeared they may have been some tomfoolery afoot…
Hate to break it to you, but we can't find your friend. 😬
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 2, 2021
A correction was made and early results looked promising:
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 2, 2021
Hopefully, things went better for our new friends in the stands than it did for the D-Backs on the field, and they better not leave us hanging on this cliffhanger of a sign-off:
But the question on everyone’s mind: is there gonna be a third date?? https://t.co/9O4SrYMPWo pic.twitter.com/7HNPqRQzva
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 2, 2021
Zach Littell, Beard Big
In tonight’s facial hair spotlight, please gaze upon the magnificent beard of one Zack Littell, who is really taking his post-Yankees beard to the next level. (Yes I know he was only in the Yankees’ system for less than one year in 2017 and never in the bigs, still counts.)
Zack Littell has a big beard” width=”1098″ height=”613″ />
Photo by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)