Jeffrey Maier was nowhere to be found, and a potential Yankees run and Josh Donaldson’s hustle were gone, too.
In the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 1 of the ALDS on Tuesday night, Donaldson smacked a deep fly ball to the opposite field. The Yankees third baseman must have thought it was a home run, but instead it became an out on the base paths.
Luckily for Donaldson, because the Yankees bounced back for a 4-1 victory to open the series at the Stadium, the play will be remembered more as an oddity than a critical mistake.
Facing Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill with the score tied 1-1, Donaldson launched a shot to right field. The ball bounced off the top of the wall, just missing the reaching hands of several fans trying to make a catch. The ball caromed back into the field of play, and Cleveland right fielder Oscar Gonzalez caught it and threw in to shortstop Amed Rosario at second base.
Donaldson, who was not running hard and had already high-fived first-base coach Travis Chapman as he rounded the bag, was caught halfway between the bases. He tried to scramble back to first base, but was tagged out.
“He ain’t the fleetest of foot, so we have to make sure we’re getting where we need to get to,” said manager Aaron Boone, who added he had not yet seen a replay. “I’m glad it didn’t end up hurting us.”
Donaldson pointed to the right-field wall in the hope a review would overturn the call. But replay upheld the ruling, as the ball never made its way to the stands. (And no fan could make the play that Maier did in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS, when the young fan deflected a Derek Jeter deep fly into what was ruled a home run against the Orioles.)
The glare on Donaldson, who was not in the clubhouse after the game (a Yankees spokesman said he was in the trainers’ room), would have been a lot brighter had his teammates not bailed him out.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed Donaldson’s near-miss by drilling a hit down the right-field line. Gonazalez misplayed it, and as the ball caromed off the wall several times, Kiner-Falefa reached third. With one out, Jose Trevino’s sacrifice fly provided the go-ahead run, and the Yankees added on from there.
Apart from a lack of hustle, the veteran Donaldson came through in his first playoff game as a Yankee and the 40th of his career. The No. 6 hitter went 2-for-2 with a walk and made a couple of impressive plays at third base.
With the bases loaded and one out in the third inning, Gonzalez hit a grounder to Donaldson’s left, which he cleanly handled and threw home for the force out. Gerrit Cole got out of the inning unscathed.
An inning later, Cleveland’s Austin Hedges grounded one hard down the third-base line, and Donaldson slid behind the bag to field it, rose and threw strong to first to erase Hedges.
