Engel haunts Yanks with another great catch

CHICAGO -- White Sox center fielder Adam Engel didn't wait long to top his home run-robbing catch turned in Monday night against Greg Bird, as he did the same to the Yankees' Kyle Higashioka in the fifth inning Tuesday during New York's 4-3 victory over the White Sox in 13 innings.
Higashioka crushed a 96 mph fastball from Reynaldo López 394 feet to left-center, with a hit probability of 88 percent. But once again, Engel raced back and timed his leap even better on this effort by grabbing the ball at the top of his jump and preventing the would-be home run from clearing the fence. That Engel effort preserved Lopez's no-hit bid into the sixth, when Aaron Hicks broke it up with a leadoff double.

"Tonight it kind of felt surreal," Engel said. "It was like I can't believe I had another opportunity to make a play like that. Just a crazy coincidence it happened in back-to-back nights. Any time you make a nice play for your pitcher, it's always fun.
"It was really strange how similar the play was. Both of them were pretty high-hit balls and I had time to get back to the wall and they came down at like a similar angle. Just had to jump up and bring it back, so it was really kind of spooky how weird, how similar both those plays were."

Engel, who added a bunt single leading off the bottom of the fifth, added a nice running catch coming in on a Gleyber Torres fly ball for the second out in the sixth. Not only did Engel make the play, but he also held Hicks at third with a perfect throw to catcher Omar Narváez.

But it was the first catch rightfully leading his night's highlights.
"I just wanted to take off my glove and go out there and kiss him," said a smiling Lopez through interpreter Billy Russo, with a postgame assessment making Thyago Vieira laugh in the locker next to Lopez.
"Right off the bat, you see how high it is and then as you are going back maybe a couple of steps into it, you realize it might be a play around the wall," Engel said. "Then a couple of more steps and you get a feel for where the wall is and that's when you make your decision: Is this going to be a home run or give an effort on it? As you get closer, you have a better idea if it's a play you have a chance at or not."