Check out the best reactions to Kevin Pillar's unbelievable diving catch to rob Mookie Betts
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Kevin Pillar has made more than his share of highlight-reel plays during his five years with the Blue Jays, and though his team fell to the Red Sox, 6-5, on Monday night, he added another mind-boggling catch to the memory bank.
Mookie Betts led off the top of the sixth with a bullet toward the gap in right-center field. It was 82 feet away from where Pillar originally stood, seemingly out of reach. Undeterred, Pillar bolted to the warning track, dove ...
... and pulled off an absolutely phenomenal catch.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons could only marvel that Pillar had done it again. "Kev never ceases to amaze you with everything he does out there," said Gibbons to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. "He gets banged up. He won't let you know, but his body hurts. But really, those are the kinds of things that don't even surprise you anymore. He's a special defender out there."
Having almost allowed at least a double, no one in the park was happier than Marcus Stroman:
Stroman was glowing in his praise of Pillar. "I told him, 'I think that was the best one I've seen live,' to be honest with you," he said. "I feel like I'm always on the mound, too, which means sinkers are usually up in the zone [and] get hit a long way because they usually play shallow when I pitch, and the way he goes back on balls is extremely special."
"I'm just happy to have him back there saving me runs, saving me from working out of trouble. He's been huge for me all year. He shows up every single day. He grinds. He's a special player."
The Blue Jays' fans at the Rogers Centre have come to expect plays like that from Pillar, and yet even now, they still bow down to his greatness:
As for the opposition?
Well, as someone who has robbed countless hits himself, Betts had to respect Pillar's game with a shake of the head and a wry smile:
Such is life when you hit one even remotely near Pillar.