Nootbaar helps Cards pull off wild 9-2-5-2-9 double play
PITTSBURGH -- Ever seen a 9-2-5-2-9 double play? Well, it looks as wild as one might think.
The Cardinals turned two in head-scratching fashion in the seventh inning of their 8-2 loss to the Pirates on Friday night at PNC Park.
After Bryan Reynolds hit a one-out double for the Pirates, Rodolfo Castro knocked a base hit to right field that sent Reynolds dashing toward home. A strong throw by right fielder Lars Nootbaar was a bit wide of home plate, but it was strong enough to make Reynolds attempt to scurry back to third base.
Catcher Andrew Knizner’s throw was on the mark to get the runner, quite literally, as it plunked Reynolds trying to turn away from third baseman Nolan Arenado. Arenado corralled it quickly and threw back to Knizner to get that out, but Castro turned well wide of second base to set up a second out.
Brendan Donovan adeptly noticed third base unoccupied as Arenado’s momentum took him toward home, and he rushed to keep Castro from getting a free bag. Even more acutely, Nootbaar rushed in from right -- after beginning the whole play in the first place -- to tag out Castro struggling back toward second.
It’s not every day you see a right fielder get an assist and a putout without actually catching the ball in right field.
All of this looked amazing on TV, but Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said the execution could have been better, particularly on the throws home and to third.
“That was actually not really well executed on both sides. I thought we could have executed that a bit better,” he said. “It worked out due to the baserunning, and we were able to get out of the inning.”
But sometimes, you also just need the breaks to turn as weird of a play as this.