Dubón fakes the throw to first then gets runner at third, a breakdown
What Happened
In the bottom of the 5th inning of a 1-1 game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants, outfielder Joc Pederson of the Giants singles to left field, putting the go-ahead runner on first base. On the next play, Giants shortstop Mauricio Dubón drifts under a foul ball and makes the catch, drawing cheers from the home crowd. With the runner on first, Dubón then fakes a throw to first base, drawing the runner off the bag, before throwing to third base in an attempt to catch the lead runner, Pederson. The throw is on target, and Dubón appears to have Pederson caught in a rundown. However, Pederson manages to evade the tag and safely returns to first base. The Giants' coaching staff gathers to discuss the play, with Dubón explaining his strategy to his teammates. The umpires review the play, but ultimately rule Pederson safe at first. Commentators note that while the fake-throw play was risky, Dubón executed it well, and the Giants maintain their 1-0 lead. In the next at-bat, Giants outfielder Luis González singles to right field, allowing Pederson to advance to third base. However, the Giants are unable to capitalize, as the next batter, Giants catcher Joey Bart, strikes out to end the inning. Throughout the sequence, the Giants' dugout is shown celebrating the team's "mustache thing," a lighthearted tradition they have embraced this season. The broadcast also highlights the poor camera angles, which make it difficult to definitively determine whether Pederson was tagged out on Dubón's rundown attempt. Despite the controversy, Dubón's heads-up play and the Giants' continued offensive pressure have kept them in the lead as the game heads to the late innings. The outcome of this closely contested matchup between NL West rivals remains to be seen, but Dubón's bold move has provided an exciting moment in an already tense ballgame.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentpirates and giants tied up at one bottom
five
fraser slices that one into left field
he's on first base as the go-ahead run
next batter hits a little foul ball and
dubon's tracking it down he says i got
it i got it right into the palm
of his hand secures it with his other
hand
bounces into the net just to have a
little bit of fun
makes the catch one out runner on first
batter goes oh
oh damn and it's all smiles over here
giants are doing a mustache thing i
don't know if you guys have caught on
giants are doing a little bit of a
mustache thing got a little bit of
mustache thing going on
in san fran next batter he slices one to
right and frazier's gonna go first to
third
love a good first to third on a single
like good base running
now you got the go ahead run on third
base a sac
fly sends him home to give him the lead
but they run the old little league first
and third
run down let's see if something happens
play
they're bad so maybe they think that's
gonna work out better than a sac fly
they trick a room
replay the gang gets together they're
watching some baseball chomp and some
gum
seeing some replays now look at this
he's running him back he's got an
easy out here caught stealing that means
that
the runner on third can't score on a sac
fly anymore
he just got to get this guy out he looks
the runner back on third he's doing his
job and then he's gonna pull the trick
fake throw throw to third i
think if we were doing like a spy movie
and we were like
risk analysis and then some spy and
green
text dropped down it was like and it was
like runner on third
two outs versus runners on first and
third
one out the percentage would say just
get the easy out at first man because
also i mean this is a pretty risky play
and the runner on third frazier didn't
really fall for it it's not like
you know usually after this throw after
this fake throw
the runner on third takes another step
home in case the first baseman botches
it and he can go home
but he didn't really fall for it but
it's a perfect spin and throw by dubon
so i'm not gonna knock it
and they did get the call look perfect
on the money throw but so much margin
for error and then it to be totally not
worth it at all
the ground screw in the yellow shirt
calls them safe from behind
but the ump says out so they're watching
the replay and this is like the best
footage we have because both these
broadcasts i guess just don't use
cameras
and i don't know did he get his hand in
you the
the gloves on him there is he touching
is he not touching
no idea he's backwards so he's not
touching first there he's not touching
first there
maybe he's touching first there but also
the glove is touching him there who
knows terrible angles be better
the broadcast crew and get it right so
the umps just say yeah sure we got it
right
he's out yeah you're a badass play by me
probably a play you you kind of like
dream about you're like you know if this
comes to me i'm gonna do this the next
pitch
is a little bit of a pass ball so if
there's a runner on third
still he might have scored so maybe the
play was
worth it but that's the fallacy of the
predetermined outcome you can't really
play that game in baseball because
i mean you can play that literally after
every single pitch if you want to do
that
so anyway then the runner moves to
second and then wood
is gonna get out of it with a strikeout
and a bam
bam bam i don't know who won this game
but i know that that play was fun and
then i was wondering if he goes to the
dugout and he's all celebratory
and a coach pulls him aside and i'm
wondering if he's saying hey man
real cool play real cool play but you
know probably not
worth it because if anything slightly
goes wrong or the call
isn't correct not worth it