It’d be easy to assume that if a baseball was hit so hard its cover tore off, it was probably headed for home run territory.
In Friday night’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, however, Brewers backup catcher Martin Maldonado tore the cover off a baseball with what appeared to be a pretty routine swing that resulted in a ground ball toward third base.
The flailing cover didn’t stop Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez from fielding and throwing the ball to first, but the flopping cover slowed the ball, allowing Maldonado to reach the bag safely.
Check out the oddity in the GIF below.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@AntonKozelichki
