In a Monday night pitcher's duel at Yankee Stadium, the New York Yankees had a chance to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and send their fans home happy.
Yankees' starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings, while Los Angeles Angels starter Jose Soriano threw seven scoreless innings of his own. In the bottom of the ninth, Giancarlo Stanton hit a leadoff double to give the Yankees a runner in scoring position with no outs in what was his first appearance of the season.
Aaron Boone decided to pinch run Jasson Dominguez for Stanton. Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out after Stanton's double, keeping Dominguez at second with one out. In the next at-bat, Dominguez dashed for third base as Anthony Volpe simultaneously hit a chopper to third.
Angels third baseman Luis Rengifo stepped in front of Dominguez as he fielded the grounder and immediately put down the tag for the out. The ball hit Rengifo's glove at the same time Dominguez slid into third, creating a bang-bang play on a live hit ball—not a throw to the bag.
I'm not sure I recall ever seeing this happen in a baseball game (Luis Rengifo stayed in the game). pic.twitter.com/hSb8BirJSx
— Brent Maguire (@bmags94) June 17, 2025
Although Rengifo went down in pain after the play, he remained in the game. The wild play potentially saved the game for the Angels and resulted in the second out of the inning. Austin Wells struck out for the third out in the inning and sent the game to extras.
An absolute crazy way to force some extra baseball.
The Angels scored in the top of the 11th inning on an RBI double from Nolan Schanuel, which ended up as the only run of the game. Rengifo fielded another grounder and stepped on third for the final out of the game to clinch the 1-0 victory—it was a much easier play than the one he made in the ninth.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Yankees' Chance to Walk Off Angels in Ninth Inning Cut Short by Wildly Improbable Out.
