Must See Mookie: Betts Guns Down Runner At Third From Right Field
BOSTON (CBS) -- The 2019 Red Sox season has been one filled with many more losses than highlights. On Monday night, at least Boston fans got one of each.
The Red Sox lost again, 7-4, at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays. That is nothing new. But the throw that Mookie Betts made in the sixth inning -- that is something to watch over and over.
The amazing toss came in the bottom of the sixth, when Avisail Garcia roped a Hector Velazquez offering to right. Garcia tried to stretch his obvious double into a triple, but Mookie had other plans. He tracked down the ball and sent it on a direct flight to third base -- 305 feet in the air -- to Rafael Devers, who tagged Garcia for the out.
The throw was the fourth-longest on-the-fly outfield assist since Statcast started tracking things like that in 2015. Not too shabby at all.
"Yeah, that was probably my best throw," Betts said after the game. "Yeah, I didn't know I could do that. ... It's fun to kind of do stuff that you didn't know you could do."
Betts' reaction on the field was priceless, giving an "aww jeez" shrug at his own raw ability. He wasn't the only one amazed by his cannon, either.
"I was talking to their bullpen. They looked at me and I was like, 'I don't know?'" said Betts.
"I've never seen a throw from that far right on the money," said Boston manager Alex Cora.
The throw, which was Betts' 10th assist on the season, is another nice addition to the Boston right fielder's resume for a fourth straight Gold Glove.
