There isn’t many better things in sports than a pennant chase. With the advent of the second Wild Card team in each league, more and more teams are fighting for postseason contention longer. That combined with a fresh crop of clubs at the apex of the standings has made this season one of the more entertaining in recent memory. Good competition always breeds great plays and this past week in the Majors was no exception. Without further ado, here are the five plays that defined the week that was in baseball.
5. Zack Greinke Earns An Epic Bat Flip
Zack Greinke is having a Cy Young caliber season. He is performing at an otherworldly clip right now sporting a 12-2 record with video game-like peripherals of a 1.65 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a 142/28 K/BB ratio. In fact, his ERA hasn’t even eclipsed 2.00 once this entire year. Every once in a while though, even the best have a bit of a hiccup. That was the case for Greinke last Thursday as his Dodgers took on the lowly Philadelphia Phillies. It was strange to see such a dominant pitcher struggle against such a dismal lineup, but Greinke labored through six innings allowing a season-high six runs. Even with that ugly line, he was still able to register the win because of what he did with his bat. In the top of the third inning against Philadelphia starter David Buchanan, Greinke looked to improve on his .188 season average. He did just that and more as he took Buchanan deep to center field to put Philadelphia in the rear view for good. Not only did Greinke homer, but just admire the glorious bat flip afterwards. I’m sure it brought a tear to Yasiel Puig’s eye.
4. Kyle Parker Does “The Arenado”
Colorado was in the news this past week for the person they lost in Troy Tulowitzki. Their 2015 may be all but over but the Rockies still have plenty of burgeoning talent coming through their system. One of them is the preseason prospect ranked 21st in their system by MLB.com: Kyle Parker. Parker is used to hits, in many senses of the word, as he was a two sport star at Clemson. As a starting quarterback in the ACC, he sure took some big hits. He also provided some of his own in both sports as he became the first ever D1 athlete to throw 20 touchdowns and hit 20 home runs over the same academic calendar. His play from last Wednesday’s game against the Mariners shows that his defensive skills aren’t to be overlooked. In the top of the sixth inning, Ketel Marte hit a foul ball towards the left field stands. Usually, one would expect Nolan Arenado to leap in the stands to make this catch, but this was a tad out of his range. Instead, it was Parker who robbed Marte of seeing another pitch with a great catch and mildly controlled crowd dive. His encore was just as good as he drove home the game tying run in the ninth of Fernando Rodney. The Rockies would win in 11 innings.
3. Yasiel Puig: You Hesitate, You Lose
Yasiel Puig has dazzled audiences for three years now with his, as Peyton Manning would refer to it, laser rocket arm. Throws to third on a line and runners gunned down at home plate are quite common occurrences for the Cuban right fielder. It isn’t every day though you see him get to throw somebody out at second base. However, that is exactly what happened to Gregory Polanco in Saturday’s Pirates/Dodgers affair. In the bottom of the first inning, Polanco stood at first after a leadoff walk from Mat Latos. The next batter, Starling Marte, would inside out a ball to right that got down on a hop in front of Puig. Polanco seemed confused as to whether Puig had a chance at catching the ball and hesitated ever so slightly. That gave Puig the leeway to barehand Marte’s hit and deliver a strike to second base to nail Polanco. It was truly egg on the Pirate outfielder’s face on this play, but the Pirates would get the last laugh as they swept the three game set with the NL West leaders.
2. Carlos Gomez Makes Himself At Home In His New Home
Carlos Gomez was moved last week at the trade deadline…twice. You see, the Brewers initially shipped the center fielder to his original club, the Mets. That deal fell through though as Sandy Alderson stammered through explanations ranging from “There was no deal.” to “He failed a physical.” A day later, the Astros were more than happy to make the Mets’ loss their gain as they swooped in to acquire Gomez. He didn’t take very long to acclimate himself to his new team. During the bottom of the fifth inning of last Thursday’s game against the Athletics, the home team was threatening with men on first and second and nobody out. Brett Lawrie had led off the inning with a home run and Astros’ starter Scott Feldman was tiring. Eric Sogard looked to compound the trouble for him when he took a 1-0 pitch deep to center after feigning a bunt. Carlos Gomez would have none of that though as he raced back to make a tremendous over the shoulder sliding catch for the first out. The A’s wouldn’t score again in the inning and the Astros would go on to win in extras.
1. Adrian Beltre Is A Professional Cyclist
Adrian Beltre hasn’t had the most Adrian Beltre-esque of seasons in 2015. He’s battled injuries over various stretches of the summer and when he wasn’t on the DL he was playing through the cavalcade of maladies. Nevertheless, Beltre has turned it on as the Rangers try for one last desperation run at the second Wild Card. This culminated last Monday as he became the second Ranger in a month to hit for the cycle. The Rangers piled it on early against the division leading Astros that day scoring 11 runs over the first three innings to chase Lance McCullers. Beltre was a part of that forgettable first frame for the Astros’ righty as he tripled home Rougned Odor and Prince Fielder. Beltre would follow that up with a double off Josh Fields in the second inning. He would single an inning later leaving him just a home run shy of the cycle. He wouldn’t leave us waiting as in his next at-bat he launched a 419 foot home run off the recently acquired Mike Fiers to complete his third career cycle. To put that feat into perspective, no other player has done that since before World War II. Is Beltre a Hall of Famer? We’ll see. For now, he’s the performer at the Top of our Heap.