ST. PETERSBURG -- Yankees right fielder Giancarlo Stanton made a fantastic leaping grab up against the wall in Friday's 2-1 loss to the Rays to help Carsten Sabathia get out of a sticky situation.
With two men on and no outs in the bottom of the fifth, Rays slugger C.J. Cron, having hit two very long foul balls on the previous two pitches, took a hanging slider from Sabathia toward the opposite field. Stanton, who got the start in right field on Friday in place of Aaron Judge, tracked the line drive off the bat.
Taking flight at the warning track, Stanton made the leaping catch as he crashed into the wall.
"I thought his jump and route were really efficient, which they needed to be to get there and make that catch," manager Aaron Boone said. "Just a great play to climb the wall there. Even though it was a sac fly, if that ball ricochets off, maybe that inning gets away from us. It was a really, really special play."
Although Matt Duffy was able to come in to score on the sacrifice fly -- giving the Rays a 2-0 lead -- a strong throw by Stanton was able to keep Wilson Ramos from advancing to second on the play. The next batter, Jake Bauers, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
"Just a great catch," Sabathia said. "I was just excited he made the play."