The Boston Red Sox already had wiggled out of several jams, and in the fifth inning, it appeared their luck was about to run out.
The Red Sox held a slim one-run lead over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night when Austin Jackson stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Jackson hit a shallow fly ball to right field, and Brett Lawrie tagged up to scamper home with what would be the tying run.
But Mookie Betts and Ryan Hanigan had other plans.
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Betts got the ball out in a hurry, and Hanigan did the rest, expertly — and legally — blocking the plate until the last possible second to apply the tag on the sliding Lawrie and complete the huge, inning-ending double play.
“Mookie gave me a good throw,” Hanigan told NESN’s Guerin Austin after the game. “I just tried to bury (Lawrie) as soon as I caught the ball. It was bang-bang, but that was a big play for us. The momentum kind of stayed in our favor after that.”
White Sox manager Robin Ventura challenged the play, arguing that Hanigan illegally blocked home plate. But after a lengthy review, the umpires correctly upheld the call. Major League Baseball rules state that a catcher can’t block the plate if he has the ball, but Lawrie’s foot already was beyond Hanigan when the ball entered his mitt.
“A great play by Ryan to receive the ball,” manager John Farrell said in a postgame interview aired on NESN. “He puts his foot out where he’s blocking some of the plate but still gave him a lane. That was a momentum shift for us.”
Indeed, the play proved to be a huge turning point in the game: Chicago wouldn’t score again, while Jackie Bradley Jr. belted a home run in the next half-inning to the help the Red Sox cruise to a 7-3 win at U.S. Cellular Field.
The key double play was one of a pair of nice plays made by Hanigan. With the White Sox threatening after an Avisail Garcia homer in the fourth inning, the Red Sox catcher made a perfect throw to second base to catch Jackson stealing.
Hanigan often gets overshadowed by Christian Vazquez, who has emerged as one of the best defensive catchers in the game. But on Thursday night, it was the 35-year-old Andover, Mass., native whose defense helped Boston score a win over a red-hot White Sox club.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
