Brett Lawrie makes great catch, follows it with mortifying throw

Baseball is filled with almosts. Fly balls that were almost home runs. Pitching performances that were almost shutouts or no-hitters. Plays that were almost made. On Sunday, a catch by Chicago White Sox second baseman Brett Lawrie falls into that last category. It was almost great. Almost.

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The White Sox were in a precarious position in their game against the Kansas City Royals. With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, the bases were loaded and reliever Nate Jones had just walked in the tying run. Royals third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert (A+ baseball name) faced Jones next, and he smacked the ball to the right side of the infield.

Brett Lawrie reached to his left, almost fully extended, and somehow caught the ball. He tumbled to the ground and tried to make the throw to Jose Abreu at first base while mostly on his back, and it didn’t go very far.

The ball only went about ten feet in front of him. Abreu picked up the ball and threw it home to get Paulo Orlando, but not before Jarrod Dyson scored to break the tie. Lawrie just sat on the edge on the infield with his legs out in front of him, looking both defeated and mortified as he stared at the ground probably hoping it would swallow him up that instant.

The run that scored for the Royals won them the game, but the loss shouldn’t be placed solely on Brett Lawrie’s head. Nate Jones loaded the bases before Lawrie let go of that “throw,” and as Chris Cwik wrote in Sunday’s edition The Walk Off, the White Sox’s bullpen is an enormous mess. Hopefully Lawrie’s teammates let him live it down, and they don’t find that gif and text it to him non-stop.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher