Thomas’ ‘unbelievable’ catch helps D-backs move into NL WC spot
PHOENIX — When the ball left Marcus Semien’s bat, Paul Sewald cringed earlier than beginning to transfer off the mound to again up third base.
“That’s where you’re supposed to go when someone hits a triple,” Sewald stated.
In the dugout, D-backs supervisor Torey Lovullo couldn’t see precisely what was occurring that far-off, so he simply listened for the gang noise.
In heart area, although, Alek Thomas was assured he was going to catch it.
“Yeah, definitely had a good bead on it,” Thomas stated. “Put my head down and just ran where I thought it was gonna be and looked up and I knew I had a chance and I lunged for it.”
Thomas lunged, caught the ball and tumbled onto the warning monitor in right-center, the deepest a part of Chase Field.
In the dugout, outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. put his fingers on his head in disbelief. Reliever Kevin Ginkel tipped his hat. Starter Zac Gallen, going by his post-start work within the clubhouse, let loose a cheer.
Sewald would nonetheless need to survive the remainder of a dicey ninth inning, however that first out gave everybody sporting an Arizona uniform a jolt of vitality as they held on for a 6-3 win that moved them into the ultimate National League Wild Card Spot, mere share factors behind the Cubs and half a recreation forward of the Reds and Giants.
The win was the ninth prior to now 11 video games for the D-backs, who had misplaced 25 of 32 earlier than that.
“I was just thinking triple off the bat and [that it was a] good thing we had a three-run lead and didn’t have to worry about it,” Sewald stated of the play. “Extra special since it got a little bit away from me there for a little bit. So thank you, A.T.”
The Rangers would go on to load the bases after that out, however Sewald was in a position to retire the following two hitters to safe his sixth save in seven possibilities with the D-backs.
“It gets a little blurry for me out there,” Lovullo stated. “[Thomas] has got his back to me and it’s against a different setting, and I just listened for the crowd reaction and he’s on the ground running into the fence. I thought it was pretty, pretty darned good play. There’s been some unbelievable plays that I’ve seen, but I’m gonna say that’s the top of the list, for sure.”
Coincidentally, it wasn’t the primary time that Thomas had frolicked working in an outfield monitoring down a fly ball hit by Semien.
Thomas’ dad, Allen, was the longtime energy and conditioning coordinator for the White Sox, and when he was youthful, Alek would shag balls throughout batting follow.
“It’s funny that it was against someone that I know and have shagged balls against before,” Thomas stated. “Marcus was drafted by the White Sox and I grew up watching him hit BP all the time, so I know his swing a little bit.”
According to Statcast, Thomas lined 101 toes with a dash velocity of 30.2 toes per second, which is taken into account elite.
“I just thought it was really funny that I ended up making that catch because of how far I had to run,” Thomas stated. “I mean, I think my sprint speed is down a little bit this year, but hopefully, that’ll put it up a few notches.”
Sewald, in the meantime, want to not make a behavior of loading the bases in conditions like that.
“We’re going to try and mix in some 1-2-3 innings and kind of calm these innings down,” stated Sewald. “That was a little scarier than we needed to make it.”
