Dayton Dragons pull off ridiculous umpire-deflected double play

The Dayton Dragons, the low-Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, pulled off an incredible play on Thursday night. I could set it up for you, but you wouldn’t believe me. You’ve got to see it.

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That’s nuts, right?

So this is what happened. It was the fifth inning of the Dragons’ game against the South Bend Cubs, and Dragons pitcher Alex Webb was facing Cubs first baseman P.J. Higgins at the plate with a man on first. Webb delivered the pitch, and Higgins hit it right back to Webb. And I mean right back to him. Webb turned to avoid the ball, and it hit him on the back.

But it wasn’t over. After the ball hit Webb it deflected to his left, hitting umpire Isaias Barba on the leg before it had a chance to touch the ground! From there the ball bounced toward second base, where shortstop Luis Gonzalez caught it on the second bounce. He got the runner at second, and then threw to first to get Higgins and complete the double play.

This baseball went on a journey, folks. It started with the pitcher, was whacked by the batter, and after it was hit it deflected off of two people before bouncing into the shortstop’s glove and traveling to first base. Most people don’t travel that much when they go to work.

The Dragons lost to the Cubs 7-4, because they were playing a baseball game and not competing in a coolest play competition. But if they were? That play would have won, hands down.