Engel soars to rob Bird of homer

CHICAGO -- Adam Engel kept a two-run deficit from turning into a five-run chasm when the White Sox center fielder robbed the Yankees' Greg Bird of a three-run homer with a spectacular catch in the fourth inning on Monday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. It was a game eventually won by the Yankees, 7-0, ending a four-game White Sox winning streak and a five-game Yankees losing streak.
Engel raced back to the wall in center and reached over the fence to make the grab on Bird's drive off White Sox starter Dylan Covey. The 405-foot, 103.4-mph blast had a hit percentage of 86, according to Statcast™.
Aaron Hicks, who was on second at the time of the play, advanced to third, while Gleyber Torres made it back to first. Covey struck out Miguel Andújar to end the inning.
"Obviously a big play by Engy out there to save some runs, the pitch count," Covey said. "Just an awesome play to keep it close for us."
On the Outs Above Average leaderboard, Engel entered Monday ranked fourth with 13. Engel took home runs away from Brian McCann and Austin Jackson in '17.
"That's a great catch," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "When he went out and he's going back and you could see he was measuring the wall.
"It's funny because he's made a lot of those catches for us before. I didn't think he was going to be able to get up there and get it. Again, Engy is one of those guys that can pull out some plays for you in center field and that was one of them."