Sometimes even a home run robbery requires an accomplice. In one of the stranger plays you’re likely to see, two Nationals outfielders combined to bring back a potential dinger during Monday afternoon’s spring game between the Cardinals and Nationals.
Slugging St. Louis first baseman Paul Goldschmidt sent a drive into left-center field that appeared destined to squeeze over the fence, but Washington outfielder Lane Thomas tracked it to the wall and leaped. He admirably got a glove on it but didn’t do quite enough to corral it.
That’s when his teammate came in for the assist and really, isn’t this what friends are for?
Center fielder Dee Strange-Gordon was backing up the play at the warning track, and as the ball came down off Thomas’ glove, Strange-Gordon swooped in to snag it just before it hit the ground. He held his glove up high in the air and sprinted in towards the umpire, like he needed to prove this unbelievable play had actually happened.
Maybe this one will be remembered as the anti-Canseco-off-the-head homer.