Yankees use hidden ball trick to catch Red Sox rookie sleeping, a breakdown
What Happened
In a crucial late-season matchup between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, a quirky play unfolds that showcases the heads-up play of the Yankees' infielders. The game is tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, with no outs and runners on first and second for the Red Sox. Boston rookie Rafaela steps off third base as New York second baseman Gleyber Torres catches the ball from outfielder Trent Grisham. Torres quickly realizes Rafaela has drifted off the bag and alerts shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera. Cabrera plays along, pretending to take the ball from Torres while secretly keeping the ball in his glove. Rafaela, oblivious to the deception, steps further off the base, watching the exchange between Torres and Cabrera. Cabrera then makes a quick, subtle tag on Rafaela, catching the rookie sleeping off the bag. "Hold up, hold up," Cabrera says to Torres, as Rafaela looks on in disbelief. "Don't throw it to me. Don't. Just be cool. Just be cool," Torres tells Cabrera, understanding the plan. Cabrera then fakes a throw back to the pitcher, allowing Torres to apply the tag and complete the hidden ball trick. "Why don't you check this ball out, Oswaldo?" Torres says, revealing the successful ruse. "Good job, Gleyber," Cabrera replies. "No, good job to you," Torres says, praising his teammate's execution of the play. The umpire quickly rules Rafaela out, much to the Red Sox's dismay. The next batter, Boston's Masataka Yoshida, puts the ball in play, but the Yankees limit the damage to just one run scored. The game goes into extra innings and while the Red Sox eventually take the lead, the missed opportunity in the ninth looms large as the Yankees rally to win 5-4 in the end. This heads-up defensive play by the Yankees' infielders showcases their baseball IQ and ability to capitalize on an opponent's mistake. The hidden ball trick, while rarely seen at the Major League level, proves to be a game-changing moment in this heated rivalry matchup between the Yankees and Red Sox.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentWeird moment in the Yankees-Red Sox game where a runner falls asleep, basically,
and then the fielders are hyper-aware.
This breakdown is brought to you by LASIK.com.
Zero outs, two on, jam shot.
That's going to be an out, not deep enough to tag, but if he drops, he catches it.
So the runners go back, and now I'm going to slow it down.
So the runners go back to their bases.
Grisham's running in with the ball.
You can see Glaber look at third.
You know, what's he doing?
What's that guy doing?
And then over at third, you can see the runner look over, and he's going to watch.
He watches the ball.
He watches what Trent Grisham does with the ball.
Okay, Trent Grisham just flips it to Glaber.
You can see the runner on third watching that happen, and now he thinks, basically, time is out.
Ball is secure.
They're just going to go to the mound with that, and he kind of steps off.
You see him step off the base right there as he watches that, realizes, I don't have to go back.
You see, as Waldo Cabrera, the third baseman, he looks at Glaber and says, hold up, hold up,
and he's side-eyed.
The runner, like, hold up, and Glaber sees this.
He's like, don't throw it to me.
Don't.
Hold up.
Just be cool.
Just be cool.
Now, what Glaber does, we're super blurry because I had to zoom in, but Glaber fake
throws it back to the pitcher, and then is like, nah, wait.
There's something on the ball.
He looks at it.
He's trying to be cool and calm and casual, and then looks at the ball a little bit and
then says, why don't you check this ball out, Oswaldo?
And he says, boom, you're out.
And then they point at each other.
And say, good job, Glaber.
And he says, no, good job to you, Oswaldo.
Is it a good job by them, or is it just a terrible job by Rafaela, who's just standing
off the base, talking to the third base coach, gets tagged out.
Umpire obviously gets into it.
Oh, you're out.
And I love it.
Yeah, bad, bad.
It's not really a hidden ball trick.
It's just like, hey, this guy's off the bag.
Maybe throw me the ball, and we can tag him.
It was cool to see Glaber and Oswaldo kind of working together.
And the next batter, Yoshida, puts the ball in play, would have scored two, only scores
one.
This game goes into extras.
That could have mattered.
Devers, after that, he hits one deep.
Is it going to go off the wall?
No.
Trent Grisham grabs it.
So maybe that play loomed large in this game.
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