With a leap, Steve Pearce added to the recent string of stellar tumbling-into-the-stands grabs
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In Friday night's game between the Blue Jays and Orioles (ultimately won by Baltimore, 1-0, in 13 innings), the teams were in a scoreless duel to the late innings. Every out feels that much more important when there's no score, inning after inning ticking by without any runs being tallied.
To that end, playing defense in close games like that requires intense focus. Toronto first baseman Steve Pearceclearly had that focus in the eighth inning, ranging far toward the seats along the first-base line and making a great grab -- tumbling headfirst into the stands after making a tremendous leaping catch:
Those fans probably weren't expecting to see a hustling Major League infielder flip over the wall and into their laps, yet that's precisely what happened.
Watching Pearce pull off that slick play, you have to wonder if his teammate Josh Donaldson felt a twinge of deja vu, considering he did this in a game in June 2015:
What's more, Friday's game came almost exactly four years after Donaldson did this with the A's:
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For more recent comparisons, Pearce's stellar effort calls to mind that of the Mariners' Taylor Motter, who did this to record the final out of a win over the White Sox:
However, as slick as Pearce's play was, he didn't come back with a fan's cap (which the Padres' Yangervis Solarte did in May) or nacho cheese (which Solarte did last season):
And, of course, there's this, from Derek Jeter in 2004:
The lesson in all of this, obviously, is that if you're sitting close to the field, remain alert at all times!