For the second consecutive day in St. Louis, Cardinals fans watched as a Nationals starting pitcher carried a no-hitter deep into the ballgame. After Aníbal Sánchez came within just four outs of a no-hitter in a Game 1 win on Friday, Nationals ace Max Scherzer pitched an seven-inning gem against the Cardinals.
St. Louis’ Paul Goldschmidt finally broke up Scherzer’s no-hitter in the bottom of the seventh with a single to left field – and some Nationals fans were upset that Juan Soto didn’t attempt a diving catch to preserve the no-hitter.
Many watching the game understandably wanted to see Scherzer have a chance to make history, and some slow-motion angles of the play made it seem like Soto may have had a decent chance to reach the ball.
The full-speed replay above, however, shows that the ball was coming down quickly and landed a few feet in front of Soto, meaning he would have likely needed to attempt a diving or sliding catch. Given the situation – a 1-run lead with zero outs in the inning – a botched catch could have been disastrous for the Nationals.
Instead of trying to make a heroic play, Soto made the conservative choice to keep the ball in front of him, which kept Goldschmidt at first base. Scherzer then struck out Marcell Ozuna, and got Yadier Molina to ground into a double-play to end the inning.
Soto didn’t preserve Scherzer’s no-hitter, but he may have preserved his win. The Nationals later added two more runs in the top of the eighth to take a 3-0 lead.
