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When Alec Bohm lofted a fly ball nearly 400 feet to centerfield with the winning run Adolis Garcia on third base, the game was essentially over.
The Philadelphia Phillies were going to walk it off on a sacrifice fly unless San Francisco Giants centerfielder Drew Gilbert could pull off something magical.
Gilbert went with a move many people hadn't seen before, one that had the potential to be brilliant.
It didn't work, but this was a low-odds situation anyway. It was worth a shot.
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What did Drew Gilbert do?
Gilbert opted to catch the ball as close to the ground as possible.
Normally, an outfielder will catch the ball up above their shoulder. In this case, they'd try to get a quick running start to build momentum through a catch up high right into a throw toward home.
Gilbert knew he was too deep to have any chance of such a throw getting Garcia, so instead, he went for something tricky.
Why did Drew Gilbert do this?
The goal of Gilbert's approach was to get Garcia to leave third base early.
A runner would be used to the timing of the ball dropping into a glove up by the shoulders. That extra split-second could've gotten Garcia to bite.
Super sneaky move here by Drew Gilbert catching the fly ball as low as possible to try and get Adolis to bite and leave early on the tag up. Don't think i've ever seen that. pic.twitter.com/QqDn2lrgVr
— SoxOptimist (@OptimistSox) May 1, 2026Garcia was likely patient in this situation, knowing that it was too deep to throw him out. No reason to risk even being close to leaving early.
With instant replay in place now, it's easier to potentially catch a guy leaving early in this case, so Gilbert did his best. It didn't work, but it was worth a shot.
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