Jon Berti steals 2nd, 3rd and home against the Mets, a breakdown

Aug 27, 2020 1.9M views 3:33

MLB New York Mets 2020

What Happened

On August 26, 2020, Marlins infielder Jon Berti drew a walk against the Mets and then proceeded to steal second, third, and home in the same inning. Each swipe came with a Mets defender asleep at the wheel. Gary Sanchez literally forgot to catch a throw, which handed Berti second. On the steal of third, nobody covered the bag. The steal of home worked because the pitcher kept lobbing the ball back without checking the runner, and even then Berti stumbled badly before a spiked throw saved him.

Why This Matters

Stealing three bases in one inning is rare enough, but pulling off a straight steal of home in 2020 borders on extinct. Berti read the Mets' carelessness and pounced. The lob back to the mound with no glance at third was the tell, and he'd already filed it away pitch by pitch. What makes this one stick is how every base came with a New York miscue: Sanchez whiffing on the catch, an uncovered bag, a pitcher who never looked over. Berti finished 2020 with 9 steals across a shortened season, so this single inning was a big chunk of his output. For the Mets it was another sloppy night in a frustrating, error-filled stretch. Heads-up baserunning meets total defensive breakdown.

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Key Moments

Who / What Is Involved

Players: Jon Berti. Teams: Mets.

john birdie stole all the bases in this

game

and strap in because it's more fun than

you even think it is

i promise you here's his at bat ball one

ball two ball three

strike one nice pitch says sanchez the

catcher

ball four okay so he's on first base and

now

the fun begins sanchez looking over at

him getting excited this dude's gonna

try to steal on us let's throw them out

all jazzed up cleaning off the hand

ready to go

and forgot to catch the ball god damn it

forgot to catch the ball birdie's on

second

just chilling hanging out forgot to

catch the ball

now he's on second base there's one out

and he's just chilling relaxing

watching to see how things unfold looks

at second

looks at third looks at the pitcher and

he's off

it's not even a great jump it's like the

ball is basically in the catcher's glove

by the time his body is fully turned to

third base it's like a weird delayed not

delayed but i think he just knew the

mets were sleeping

davis didn't cover third so he's safe

sanchez is like okay

well okay and he's like okay well okay

and he's like yeah okay cool

and now i'm over here and now he's just

on third

and he's still hunting he's figuring it

out he's seeing everything

sanchez looks over at him after every

pitch grabs the looks over at him

throws the ball to the pitcher looking

over at him i'm keeping tabs on you

uh oh where you think you're going

birdie you're not stealing a third bag

on me

you already stole two now i think birdie

sees this throw

back to the pitcher a lob

pitcher catches it never looks at third

so you know yeah he checked on you

and then he lobbed it back to the

pitcher pitcher never looked over at

third base

saw that says oh that seems interesting

catcher looks over at him looks over at

him

lob and he's off to the races and he's

crawling

off to the races safe emphatic safe call

he starts running he goes one hand two

hand three hand forehand

fifth hand regains his balance the throw

is spiked though and he's safe

pitchers have trouble throwing the ball

when they're not pitching the ball

and he's in there so it's it's cool

and then it was very embarrassing and

then it was cool

so birdie doesn't really know how to

celebrate because yeah your scouting

report on the lob

was fantastic a plus

scouting on the lob saw it happen

knew it was gonna happen great

checks on him so now we're cool look how

cool he is you know

and the lob's there and he's off and i

think if he doesn't stumble he's

probably

pretty safe close play but he stumbles

so now we're in embarrassing mode now

we're in oh my god

the pitcher's just gonna toss it to the

catcher this is embarrassing

i'm embarrassed and then the pitcher

spikes it and he's safe so now we're

back in this weird

not really cool but not embarrassed

either but kinda cool mode

wild ride wild ride fun result for the

marlins

about five unfun results for the mets

because i think every stolen base came

with a mental

or physical error by the mets