A video replay couldn’t erase the excellent defensive play Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks made Wednesday night.
With the Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates tied in the seventh inning of a spring training game, Jaff Decker hit a sharp grounder back at Boston pitcher Burke Badenhop. Badenhop turned and fired to Xander Bogaerts at second, putting baserunner Michael Martinez in a rundown.
Bogaerts then threw over to Middlebrooks, who chased down Martinez before sprinting to second base and diving to tag out Decker, who was trying to catch the Red Sox’s defense napping.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle argued that Decker beat Middlebrooks to the bag, but the play was reviewed and the call upheld.
Check it out in the video below.
[mlbvideo id=”31591921″ width=”640″ height=”358″ /]
