Andrés Giménez made a potential game-saving play against the AL MVP frontrunner in Wednesday’s 5-4 Blue Jays win over the Astros.
With Toronto leading 5-3 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Yordan Alvarez, the best hitter in baseball this season, drilled a ball down the right-field line to plate one run. It looked like he had a potential double, but Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes made a great throw to second, where Giménez made an incredible heads-up play.
As Alvarez neared second base, the Blue Jays shortstop faked like the ball wasn’t coming to the bag yet -- when it was actually mere feet away. That split-second decision caused Alvarez to go in standing up and Giménez promptly tagged him out, recording the first out of the inning and clearing the bases.
“We're sitting there talking about ‘do you walk Yordan or not?’ You're sitting there with a Hall of Famer on deck [Jose Altuve], swinging the bat well,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “So, really, really good play from Lukes to get it in, and it was kind of a no-way moment, you know, with Gimé, he deked him there. Kind of caught a break, but that's extra innings, you got to catch a break. But great throw, great tag.”
Alvarez said afterward that he thought he missed the base and credited Giménez for the deceit.
“Players tend to do those types of tricks,” Alvarez said. “What really happened was I was trying to get as fast as I could to get to the base and when I lifted my head up to see in front of me [he was at the base].”