SI

Alex Verdugo Had Good-Natured Reaction to Being Out By a Mile at Home Plate

An easy call for the umpire.

Kyle Koster

Alex Verdugo laughs off a very not close play at home.
Alex Verdugo laughs off a very not close play at home. / MLB on Fox
In this story:

The Atlanta Braves were enjoying a 6-2 lead over the Boston Red Sox in the top of the sixth inning on Saturday night, so they could afford to take some aggressive risks on the bases in the interest of opening up a larger cushion. So it wasn't too surprising that third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo sent Alex Verdugo barreling toward home on a Matt Olson single to left field. It was a bit strange, though, to see leftfielder Jarren Duran toss a missile to the plate that beat Verdugo by a good 30 feet.

Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez waited for Verdugo to finally reach the dish and applied the tag, facilitating a completely stress-free decision for home plate umpire Paul Clemons.

To his credit, Verdugo did the only thing to be done in that situation: flash a big smile and chuckle at the absurdity. After all, it wasn't his decision to try to score. It's not his fault he looks so fast.

All fun and games for the Braves right now but if Boston somehow finds a way to come back and win, it will be less funny.

More MLB on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

Home/MLB