Hunter Pence returns from the DL to run around, make diving, flopping catch and throw runner out

Pence makes flopping catch and throws runner out

By Michael Clair

July 8, 2015

When Hunter Pence is on the disabled list, the world is a little darker. Colors more muted. True Detective a chaotic, poorly written mess rather than a masterpiece of modern television.

So with Pence back on the field on Tuesday for the first time since June 2, our hopes were high. Maybe everything would be OK and our clothes would look like the "after" shirts in detergent commercials and True Detective characters would stop saying things like "erasers clapping."

At the very least, the baseball we were treated to was pretty swell. In the top of the sixth inning against the Mets, the wonderfully coiffed outfielder chased down a fly ball down the right-field line from the Mets' Ruben Tejada. Doing the thing he always does, namely looking weird while still playing baseball well, Pence went into a sliding body flop to make the catch. With Curtis Granderson sprinting for home, Pence popped up, hurled the majestic baseball rock to the plate and got the out.

Hunter Pence catch

After the game, in which the outfielder also drove in two runs during the Giants' 3-0 victory, Pence said:

"[I] caught the ball with nothing to lose. There's no one on base so you just throw it as hard as you can--you're kind of spinning, throwing a prayer up there. I'm just watching Susac made a ridiculous catch and tag. That's the special part of the play. When I saw that and I saw the umpire call him out, it was a pretty good feeling."

(Additional reporting by Oliver Macklin / MLB.com)