That’s a hell of a play by Joe Panik. Ty Blach enjoyed it. pic.twitter.com/bNM2WsoTKC
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) August 31, 2017
There are great diving plays, and then there’s the type of diving play that Giants’ second baseman Joe Panik made on Wednesday night.
With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Yangervis Solarte stepped to the plate against Giants’ rookie Ty Blach.
Blach is considered one of the better fielding pitchers in the league, but with Solarte at the plate, he lucked his way into recording an infield assist.
Solarte rapped a ball right back toward Blach, but instead of allowing the ball to travel through to center field, Blach kept his foot in front of it, and the ball deflected toward Panik.
After stepping to his right, Panik back-tracked to his left and dove to stop the ball. After corralling it, Panik fired over to Pablo Sandoval at first base just in time to retire Solarte.
It wasn’t exactly a typical groundout, but it got the job done. And most importantly, Blach loved it.