The catch ended up being for naught result-wise. Jack Suwinski's catch kept the Pirates ahead in the sixth inning, but the Dodgers would end up hitting a three-run home run in the eighth to end up victorious at PNC Park Tuesday, 8-7.
But this catch still demands a Freeze Frame.
With the Pirates leading 7-5 in the sixth, Mookie Betts came to bat with two outs representing the go-ahead run. He would end up giving this Robert Stephenson slider a ride, but Suwinski had it timed up and was able to reach into the stands to bring it back:
"You’re definitely tracking that and know how close you are and where you think the ball is going to end up, you getting to that position," Suwinski said. "I know as I’m running out of room, I have to either jump or it’s getting to that point. With enough time and space, knowing that I’m able to get there."
Actually, a catch like this deserves a second angle:
"It was an unbelievable play," Derek Shelton said. "He got back to the wall. He did everything right."
Out of curiosity, I went down to the section to try to find the guy with the red hat who cleared the way for Suwinski. It turned out he and his buddy are Dodgers fans. They declined to share their names, but did offer me an explanation for why they didn't interfere: "We were scared if we would have caught it, we would have got beat up."
Fair enough. The crowd was livelier than the 10,560 attendance figure might indicate.
As for Suwinski, it might have been his first robbed home run. There was a ball in Cincinnati that was right on the line a year ago, and he dived into the stands for a foul out against the Rays last season, too.
For someone who played plenty of right field a year ago, PNC Park doesn't offer many opportunities to rob a home run. This year he's playing a lot more left, and has been taking reps to better play that short wall.
"You always think, ‘Did I really catch that?’ " Suwinski said. "It all happens pretty fast, kind of fast and slow at the same time because you have taken a lot of reps doing things like that. It’s a pretty cool feeling."
Suwinski was at plus-1 defensive runs saved entering the night. It seems safe to assume that number is going up the next time Fielding Bible updates.
