NEW YORK – A day after Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons added another sensational play to his long-running highlight reel, teammates and coaches were still being asked about the play and its importance.
With two outs and the potential tying run at third base in the eighth inning Wednesday, Simmons went deep into the hole to make a strong backhanded play on a Travis d’Arnaud grounder and, with his momentum carrying him in the opposite direction, leaped to make a seemingly impossible one-hop throw from the outfield grass across the diamond to beat d’Arnaud by a half step to end the inning.
“I thought he could get to the ball,” said Terry Pendleton, Braves first-base coach and former three-time Gold Glove third baseman. “Even with his arm strength I wasn’t sure he was going to be able to throw the guy out. But if there’s anybody on a baseball team playing shortstop who could do it, he’d be the guy I’d bet on, because of his range and his arm strength.”
The Mets had already scored a run in the inning on two hits and a walk against reliever Jordan Walden, and Simmons’ play stemmed the tide of the game, which the Braves won 3-2 to snap a three-game losing streak.
“That’s why I said it’s the best play I’ve ever seen him make,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who made a nice scoop at the other end. “If he doesn’t make that play, who knows where that momentum’s going to go, because then it’s a tie ballgame. That could deflate us. If that balls gets through obviously it’s going to turn around the whole ballgame, now it’s going to be a tie ballgame going into the top of the ninth. That means Craig (Kimbrel) is not coming in the ballgame, because we’ve got to (save him) just in case we score.”
Kimbrel worked around a leadoff single and walk in the ninth inning to record his 39th save, and said Simmons’ play had sent a charge through the team.
“It’s a pick-me-up, I can tell you that,” he said. “It goes from a situation where it’s, oh, no, it looks like the game’s going to be tied, to, hey, we’ve still got the lead, and we’re batting. We’re in the driver’s seat now. Definitely plays like that are big momentum changers.”
Freeman said it could be a momentum changer not just for one night, but for the rest of a playoff race as the Braves try to reel in the National League East-leading Nationals, who led by 6 ½ games before Thursday.
“You never know what could happen there, so that was a huge play,” Freeman said. “And that could be the momentum boost that we need to get going in these last 28, 29 games.”
