The Red Sox dropped Game 3 of the American League Division Series to the Rays on Monday night, but it was still a tense, enjoyable playoff game with memorable moments. One such moment came in the eighth inning, with Matt Joyce at the plate.
The game was tied 3-3 at this point, and the Rays had two runners on already. Joyce was going to bunt to move the runners over -- it made sense to play for just the one run here, and the Rays would, in theory, have two runners in scoring position with just one out on the board. Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales located his fastball up in the zone, though, causing Joyce to pop up on the sacrifice attempt, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia handled the rest:
That's an impressive play from Salty, for multiple reasons. For one, it's a long way to that backstop, and he made it despite all of the gear catchers are adorned with. Second, he didn't lose it in the domed roof or the lights, and managed to slow down just enough to both make the catch and avoid a traumatic crash with the wall. The Rays would eventually score, and go on to win on a walkoff blast in the ninth, but Salty did all he could to keep the Sox alive a little longer in this moment.