No glove, no prob pic.twitter.com/MR2E6WNKhU
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) September 15, 2021
In the top of the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres, Anthony DeSclafani helped himself by fielding his position.
Manny Machado, one of the most feared right-handed sluggers in baseball, smoked a sinker right back toward the mound. The ball left Machado’s bat at 109.3 mph, the hardest hit of the early stages of Tuesday night’s game.
DeSclafani, though, reached behind his back to make a stab at Machado’s hit. Whether by luck or skill, he found the ball with his leather. But Machado’s hit was so powerful it knocked DeSclafani’s mit off his hand. Still, DeSclafani tracked down the ball behind the mound to still make the play.
It was unorthodox, but it got the job done.
And, even crazier, it’s not the first time this has happened to DeSclafani. He made almost an identical play in 2015 with the Cincinnati Reds.
A glove save and a beauty by Anthony DeSclafani. #Reds pic.twitter.com/vCZyc9D7Er
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 15, 2015