Baez just keeps surprising during playoffs
Apparently, there is no stopping Javier Baez.
Even when he messes up in a big, big way as he did in the second inning of the Cubs' heart-pounding 8-4 victory over Los Angeles in Game 1 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field on Saturday.
Baez's whoopsie came after he'd doubled to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead and he advanced to third on a wild pitch. With Jon Lester at the plate, Joe Maddon called for a squeeze bunt, but his pitcher couldn't go after the offering from Kenta Maeda because it was too outside.
When the pitch was caught, Baez suddenly found himself about 20 feet off third base and a sitting duck for Dodgers catcher Carlos Ruiz.
Almost every runner in the major leagues would have been done at that point, but the hottest Cubs player in these playoffs instead pulled out the theft of the century.
Baez took one hard step back to third base and when Ruiz fired to Justin Turner, Baez exploded toward home. Turner's throw back to Ruiz wasn't in time, and Baez became the first Cub in 107 years to steal home in a playoff game.
"One percent or less of all major-league players would have done what he did," Maddon said. "Honestly. He's just that good on the bases.
"Sometimes he's going to look bad because he's going to make what appears to be a mental mistake, but he had that all plotted out."
Well, maybe. Lester followed Maddon to the postgame podium and expressed relief that the suicide squeeze wasn't on.
"We've got one job (and that's) not to screw anything up when it comes to hitting," Lester said.
After Lester pulled the bat back, he watched in shock as the play unfolded and somehow worked out in the Cubs' favor.
Said Lester: "I'm looking at him like, 'Hey, man. What are you doing?' He's like, 'I messed up.'
Baez, who owns 2 of the most important hits this postseason for the Cubs, has a hit and a run scored in all five playoff games. He won Game 1 of the NLDS with a towering home run to left field and had the game-winning single in the Cubs' 6-5 Game 4 victory.
Baez went 2-for-4 Saturday (also doubling in the sixth) and now has an eye-popping .400 batting average this postseason with 3 RBI and 5 runs.
What the 23-year-old has up his sleeve for Games 2, 3 and beyond is anyone's guess.
Regardless of what it is, Maddon's just happy he's on the Cubs' side … whoopsies an all.
"He's going to do something once in a while that's going to make you (say), 'Javy?' And you call him into the principal's office," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "But then he does things like that.
"You never want to coach instinct or aggressiveness out of a baseball player. It's the worst thing you can possibly do."