Kansas City Royals outfielder Adam Frazier submitted his highlight of the year candidate Friday afternoon, pulling off an insane home run robbery double play against the Detroit Tigers.
In the third inning, with his team up just 1-0, Frazier tracked a hard-hit fly ball off the bat of Tigers outfielder Parker Meadows all the way to the wall. Then, with a mighty leap, Frazier reached over the wall and snagged the ball, robbing Meadows of a dinger and the Tigers of a lead.
But, not to be outdone by himself, Meadows quickly reacted to Tigers infielder Javy Báez being off first base and fired a strike to first to complete an inning-ending double play.
Báez clearly thought that ball was a no-doubter, as he was halfway to third base when Frazier pulled off the unthinkable snag and had to race back to first base but didn’t make it in time.
Home run robbery and a double play from Adam Frazier. My goodness. pic.twitter.com/QvAnmbTLsr
— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) April 26, 2024
Keep ya head on a swivel, Javy! (RELATED: Poor Kid. Team Demotes MLB’s Top Prospect After Truly Atrocious Start)
Frazier’s snag was consequential, as the two runs that starter Seth Lugo would have given up would have put Detroit in the lead. After almost giving up that round-tripper in the third inning, Lugo settled down and pitched an absolute gem, tossing seven scoreless innings and only giving up three hits.
As a Mets fan, it’s bittersweet to see Lugs killing it. He’s now 4-1 with a 1.66 earned run average, good for eighth in the league. His 38 innings pitched are also second-most in the MLB.
My Metsies had him for the first seven years of his career but refused to let him be a full-time starter, leaving him in the bullpen for most of his time in Queens. Now he’s flourishing as a full-time starter and, while I’m happy for him, I can’t help but think about what could have been.