It wasn’t quite like Corey Hart got caught napping as he rounded third base last night after a single in the sixth inning. There were two outs, and his third base coach initially waved him around. You would expect to be trying to score in that situation.
But once the coach changed his mind and Hart put on the brakes, he didn’t exactly sprint back to third base. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant noticed, alertly cut the throw from left field, and then ran hard after Hart:
That’s just a heady play by Bryant – and a nice job by Junior Lake to get the ball in quickly with a strong, accurate throw (if Hart keeps going, I’m pretty sure he’s meat). If Bryant doesn’t make that play, the Pirates have runners at the corners, down by four in the sixth inning. You never know what happens from there.
I also enjoyed this video because it was a pretty clear example of how having multiple camera angles can ensure that a call is correctly determined on replay review. Here, every angle except one looked inconclusive, at best, and maybe even looked like Hart was safe. But there was one angle – you can see it halfway through the video there, as Len Kasper correctly pounces on it – that showed, definitively, that Bryant applied the tag before Hart’s foot reached the base.