When You Go to a Baseball Game, There Is Always a Chance You’ll See Something You Have Never Seen Before

Which may have happened at the Cubs-Pirates game last night.  Let me set the scene: The Pirates took a 3 to 0 lead in the first inning.  The Cubs got five in the seventh to take a two-run lead, but the Bucos tied it in the top of the ninth.  Nobody scored in the tenth or top of the eleventh.¹  In the bottom of the eleventh, the Cubs had runners on first and third with one out.  Ian Happ was batting right-handed, his weaker side.²  Ian hit a really high pop up to the infield – and the second baseman totally missed it!  Sergio Alcantara scored, and the Cubs won.  Here’s the play (see at 7:40):

The guys on TV said they had never seen anything like it, which is true, sort of.  Because in the “Matt Szczur botched pop fly game,” it was a pop fly to the outfield and Gregory Polanco slipped, as opposed to just missing the ball.³   As for whether last night was something I never saw before, I’m not sure.  But it certainly was fun, and I am so glad I was there.  It’s why I go.
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¹ Take that Rob Manfred.
² Not that either of his sides is that strong.
³ Here it is:

UPDATE (9/4/21 3:35 pm): Corrected Gregory Polanco's first name.