A deke attempt from Pedro Florimon led to some ninth-inning confusion ... and a big double play
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The Phillies beat the Nats, 3-1, on Saturday at Nationals Park thanks to a strong outing from Vince Velasquez, some clutch hitting and, at least in part, the defensive efforts of Pedro Florimón.
With Trea Turner on first base and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, Matt Wieters hit a popup toward second. Turner, who took off for second with the pitch, ended up being doubled off first base thanks to some confusion ... perhaps thanks to a masterful deke attempt by shortstop Florimon. That action at the second-base bag? There's no baseball there:
"I thought that he tried to steal the base, so I saw the popup and I tried to fake him to stay on the base," Florimon told MLB.com after the game. "That was something I could hold for a moment, so Cesar [Hernandez] could catch the ball and get a double play."
For what it's worth, Turner said that he wasn't deked:
"Usually I hear the ball off the bat, so a lot of times if I hear it I'll look up," Turner said. "I didn't hear it that time. I knew Florimon didn't have the ball, I just figured it was like a passed ball or something, that he was trying to get me to stay at second base. So by the time I realized, I looked up and saw Matt Wieters running down the first-base line. It kind of confused me. It happens. If I hear it, I think I look up and run back and everything is fine. I happened to not hear it."
Whether a true deke or not, a strong effort from Florimon regardless.