Sal Frelick has had a quiet postseason so far at the plate.
But it was the play he started in center field in the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at American Family Field on Monday night, Oct. 13, that might well prove to be the crazy highlight of baseball’s entire fall tournament before all is said and done.
With the bases loaded for the Los Angeles Dodgers and one out, Max Muncy lifted a long fly ball to center off Quinn Priester that appeared as though it would carry just over the wall for a grand slam that would break a scoreless tie with the Milwaukee Brewers.
But Frelick – starting in center rather than in his usual spot in right – made a leap and caught the ball momentarily before it popped out of his glove and then hit the top of the wall.
He then caught the ball on the carom and quickly fired a throw to cutoff man Joey Ortiz, who turned and fired to catcher William Contreras to get a sliding Teoscar Hernández at the plate for a force out.
“Max put a good swing on it,” Frelick said. “Went back, figured it was close to the wall. Didn’t know if it was going out or not, just wanted to give myself a play at it and jumped up. Ball kind of ticked off my glove and I just kind of saw it floating there and so I grabbed it and fired it in to Joey because I saw Teoscar was going back to third to tag.
“I didn’t really know what had happened. I didn’t know it had hit the wall at the time. So yeah, kind of a weird one.”
One of the keys to the play was the pinpoint throw home by Ortiz, who was stationed just on the fringe of the outfield grass when he pivoted and threw.
“I was just waiting for the ball from Sal,” Ortiz said. “Brice (Turang) was yelling ‘(Home!)’ right behind me, so luckily I had an idea of where to go with the ball. And so as soon as I got it, I just went and threw it home.”
Also notable was the stretch by Contreras, who kept his foot on the plate and got Hernández by a hair.
“It was a little hard there because I think everyone was confused in the moment,” Contreras said. “But got the force out at the plate and at that point it was just finishing the play off and getting the out at third.”
Which is what Contreras did, by jogging down himself and stepping on the base to retire Will Smith.
Smith, who was on second on the play, had retreated to the base thinking the ball was caught, setting the stage for a totally improbable 8-6-2 double play.
“I didn’t see it hit the wall,” Smith said. “I just thought he kind of brought it back in and caught it, so I thought it was an out, maybe a sac fly.
“I didn’t see it hit the wall, and that’s not what happened.”
There was much confusion in the aftermath, and players from both teams lingered on the field while all six umpires conferred after the Dodgers challenged.
But both out calls were upheld following a replay review, and the crowd went wild in celebration after the announcement was made.
“I didn’t really know (what happened) until I saw the replay,” Ortiz said. “I thought (Hernández) was just tagging and he beat the throw, and then I saw William going for a forceout (at third) and I just had to wait and see.”
Adding to the craziness?
The play goes down as a grounded into double play in the box score because there were force plays at two different bases, according to official scorer Tim O’Driscoll, even with it beginning 404 feet out.
The ball would have been a home run in nine ballparks, including Dodger Stadium.
“You come out of that at-bat feeling good you at least get one run on a sac fly,” said Muncy. “I felt like I hit it good enough that it had a chance, and to come away with nothing, double play – it’s definitely the worst fielder’s choice double play I’ve ever hit into in my life.”
Where did the play rate on the weirdness scale?
“Probably the weirdest play,” Ortiz said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.”
This story was updated to add more information.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How did Brewers pull off the wild double play against the Dodgers in the fourth inning of the NLCS?
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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