Baseball has its highs and lows. Sometimes it becomes the source of cheering for some and sadness for others. A similar thing happened during the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs faceoff on April 12. One leap, one glove, and four runs denied—the Dodgers’ star outfielder, Andy Pages, stunned the audience, making a stunning catch look easy. But ended up robbing the Cubs’ Michael Busch of what looked like a sure grand slam. How did he do it?

Right after the Cubs hit the four-seam fastball towards center field, Pages looked at the ball flying towards him. Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki was hoping that somehow he would prevent the ball from going out over the fence. And yes! He did. Pages soared in the air vertically, pushing his right hand to collect the ball. As a result, the excellent catch by Pages got fans buzzing over it, with one of them claiming, “He’s a beast! What a catch.”

Pages not only stole the show but also saved Sasaki from a scary moment when he pitched the ball against Busch. It’s the tale of the third inning, when Sasaki nearly hit a grand slam. If it wasn’t for Pages, Sasaki would have given away Busch his second home run. But it wasn’t all bad for Sasaki. In fact, in the gloomy 16-0 loss, Sasaki was one of the bright spots.

After all, it was the first time he pitched for five innings since his early days in Nippon Baseball. For a 23-year-old pitcher, this shows clear improvement from his previous outing, where he pitched only three innings against the Cubs. However, Sasaki allowed a home run to Busch in the second inning before striking him out with a splitter later in the game.

Unfortunately, Sasaki and Pages’ best efforts couldn’t save the poor offense portrayed by the Dodgers. They failed to score any runs across the six innings pitched by the Cubs’ starter, Ben Brown, whose 7.71 ERA even came down to 5.09 with such impressive pitching.

As for Pages’ stellar moment, he didn’t just make Bush miss an opportunity for four RBIs. More importantly, Pages prevented a potential 5-0 deficit at Dodger Stadium. The catch quickly became a topic of discussion, generating buzz across social media platforms. 

Dodgers Star’s stunning catch leaves fans in a frenzy

Right after Pages pulled off that massive catch, social media was lit with different reactions pouring in from many fans. “What a catch!” a fan’s X account posted online. Dodgers pitcher Sasaki looked in awe as the ball travelled to center field towards the blue wall at Chavez Ravine. 

Another X user took an indirect dig at Busch, hinting that it was enough from him for the day. He commented, “NOT TODAY, MICHAEL; ONE IS ENOUGH.” 

While they may seem to only praise Pages for the excellent catch, someone came up with a reaction that shed light on Sasaki. The young pitcher managed to allow four hits, two walks, and one earned run in his 81 pitches. He also managed to strike out three times. “Sasaki bailed out again,” a fan wrote, indicating how Sasaki was saved from a grand slam by Andy Pages.

While it may seem correct for every fan, one of the X users disagrees with others. For him, the ball was not going beyond the ground, as he wrote, “He made a nice catch, but that clearly was staying in the yard either way. He caught it going up on his jump/fall thing.” Well, it isn’t fair to judge whether the ball was going out or not, but Pages’ effort is definitely worth appreciating, isn’t it?

Absolutely! The grand slam would have raised some tension between the players at the mound. But the Dodgers are lucky that Pages did his best to stop it. Another notable comment came from a fan who also believed the same, writing, “Andy Pages stopped a temper tantrum on the mound.” What could have been a home run ultimately turned into a catch, and if it didn’t happen, Sasaki would have been under the radar, given that he struggled in his first two starts as well.

What are your thoughts about the catch? Let us know in the comments.