Braves come back and throw out Bryce Harper to win, a breakdown
What Happened
In a thrilling postseason matchup, the Atlanta Braves mount a comeback against the Philadelphia Phillies. Down 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Braves have the tying run on second base with young slugger Austin Riley at the plate. Riley works a full count against Phillies reliever Seranthony Domínguez, fouling off several pitches before unloading on a slider and sending it deep into the left field seats. The go-ahead, two-run home run by Riley gives the Braves a 5-4 lead as the raucous home crowd erupts in celebration. In the top of the ninth, the Braves cling to their one-run advantage. Phillies star Bryce Harper leads off with a single, bringing slugger Nick Castellanos to the plate. Castellanos battles to a 2-2 count before lacing a deep fly ball to right field. Rookie outfielder Michael Harris II makes a spectacular leaping catch at the wall to record the out, but the Braves are unsure of Harper's status on the bases. As the ball reaches the infield, the Braves' third baseman Austin Riley begins frantically signaling to his teammates that Harper is rounding second base. Riley's quick thinking and communication allows the Braves to turn an incredible 8-5-3 double play, as they throw out the sliding Harper at first base to secure the win. "I was just trying to get their attention as much as I could," Riley explains. "I was screaming 'one, one, one' because I was the only one who could see where Harper was." Braves manager Brian Snitker praises his team's execution, saying, "That was just an unbelievable play to end the game. The way the guys communicated and made that happen was incredible." With the victory, the Braves take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five National League Division Series against their divisional rival Phillies. It was a game-changing moment that left the Truist Park crowd and both dugouts buzzing with excitement.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThe Phillies and the Braves gave us the game of the postseason so far last night.
This breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings.
Let's take a look.
First, Phillies are up 4-3, tying runs on second base.
Young, thick Austin Riley's at the dish.
He's going to get a first pitch slider, and he's all geared up for it.
He's ready for it.
It looks like he was sitting first pitch slider.
Just, it's inside, and he hits it.
Foul down the line.
Ball boy makes a play.
Riley goes and thinks about it.
This woman cannot watch.
She cannot watch.
She cannot watch.
Other dude's very into it.
He's excited.
Next pitch, fastball, ball.
But if you look, to me, it looks like he doesn't want the fastball.
He's sitting off speed, and maybe that's what JT and the pitcher saw
because the 1-1 pitch here, they're going to come back with the fastball.
Only this time, it looks like he's somewhat there.
Now he swings and misses, but I think he was ready for that.
Come on, Austin.
They're excited or they're nervous.
I think nervous.
Austin Riley looking out at the pitch.
Pitcher, pitcher, looking back.
Here you go.
Slider in the dirt.
Acuna gets to third.
That's pretty big because now if they get another ball in the dirt,
if you want to throw another slider low to get them to chase,
you risk it getting by JT and Acuna scoring, and that's the tying run.
So Riley knows the pitchers are going to be a little more up,
a little more in the zone, and they go fastball.
Not that up.
Almost spiked it.
Three and two count.
Full count.
Riley's like, what are you going to throw?
Don't care.
I'm just going to get my bat to it.
They go three-two slider, and he just gets his bat to it,
throws it deep into the seats into left field to take the lead
in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Whoo!
They would have went down 2-0 in the series.
How about that switch by the crew?
How about this switch right away to the fireworks?
What a beautiful shot.
That was, like, perfectly cued up.
Now take a look at his swing at the slider on the first pitch on the left,
and then his swing at the left.
That's a slider on the 3-2 pitch.
On the left, he's ready for it.
He wants to attack it.
That's a swing where he's like, yep, I think he's throwing slider.
I'm going for it.
On the right, he's defensive.
He's in two-strike mode, and he's just like, the ball's in the zone.
I got to throw my bat at it and hope I connect.
Really good hitting.
I like that.
Go take a big swing.
First strike, second strike, they gave you three for a reason,
and then get a little more, you know, just spoil.
Spoil with pop.
If you can, watch.
Just throws the bat head at it.
Really cool.
If you look at his hands, his top hand comes off the bat
just as it's about to make contact.
He has no grip on the bat right there as the ball hits it with his top hand,
the one with the thing on the thumb.
But got it out there.
One-handed finish.
Watches it fly.
He is going to be pretty excited.
Watch this.
Ah!
Pow!
Okay.
Now, top of the ninth inning.
They have the lead.
They need to secure the lead and win.
Bryce Harper's on first base, and Castellanos up with one out.
This is awesome.
First pitch fastball, 97 on the outside.
Castellanos fouls it back.
That's the pitch he wants, though.
95 up.
Count goes one and one.
What are you going to throw here?
Oh, boy.
Fastball down.
Swings through it.
The crowd is chanting.
They're excited.
Let's go.
Come on, baby.
Come on, baby.
They're bringing the noise.
One-two pitch.
Low.
The count is two and two.
Harper's on first, thinking, I want to score, man.
Put the ball in play.
I'm going to score.
Let's do it.
Two-two.
He's going to get the outside 97 fastball he wanted earlier.
Throws his bat at it.
Sends it deep to right field.
Only Harris comes down with it.
What a grab.
Just gets it into the infield.
Where?
Where's Bryce?
Where's Bryce?
Who's that?
What happened?
What happened?
Come over.
What?
What?
What?
What?
What happened?
Excited.
One, Michael Harris, third, tracks it down, makes the leaping catch into the wall.
And then he said he didn't know where Harper was.
He could have been at first tagging up.
He could have been rounding second and wanted to double up.
But he just did what you're taught to do and just get it in.
So he just gets it and fires it in.
Now, Harper got a little antsy.
He probably should not have rounded second base there or touched second base and hung
out right at second base.
And then if the ball falls, hopefully you can still score.
But maybe you get holed up at third.
Harper didn't want none of that business.
He wanted to score.
He wanted to score.
He thought, that ball's going in the gap.
I'm going to score.
And then he's like, wait, hold up.
He caught it.
And he has to put the brakes on so hard that he slips right there.
Slips.
Slips.
His hand goes down.
Now, look at Austin Riley on the bottom of the screen.
He's screaming one.
You can see him screaming and pointing one, one, one, because he's the only one right
now facing the play.
The other infielders have their back to the runner.
They can't see where Harper is.
So young, thick Austin Riley is just screaming one.
And he said, because he was trying to get their attention so much and scream, he ended
up walking towards them so they could hear him just screaming one.
Which ended up putting him in the perfect position to make this crazy play.
Backhands the ball, throwing while he's falling down, just a BB to get him at first.
And Olsen screaming.
Olsen rings him up with a fist pump before the ump even can.
The only double play of its kind, I think, ever or maybe ever in the postseason, an 8-5-3
double play.
Crazy.
Harper knew it right away.
He got up and just ditched.
The fans are going.
They're going nuts.
Look at the dugout and the pitcher.
Look at Snit behind Iglesias.
Oh, he's going to get some high fives here.
Yep.
Where's where's coach?
Coach.
Coach.
Perfect.
Lefty to righty.
High five.
Nailed that one.
Harris going crazy in the outfield.
Unbelievable way to end the best game of the postseason thus far.
Really cool.
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