On Thursday afternoon the Kansas City Royals took on the Cleveland Guardians in a matinee affair, and fans were treated to some impressive acrobatics.
In the top of the sixth with no outs, Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel was at the plate with left fielder MJ Melendez on third and right fielder Hunter Renfroe on second. Isbel smacked a grounder to first. Melendez was off and running with the crack of the bat; the grounder was fielded cleanly by Josh Naylor, who rifled the ball to home in an effort to save a run.
It looked like Naylor’s throw had Melendez dead to rights in every sense. And Melendez was, in fact, called out initially. But the off-target throw forced Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor to dive to his left, giving Melendez the slightest window of opportunity to dive over him and touch the plate.
It was a tremendous display of athleticism combined with quick thinking and resulted in a well-earned run for the Royals.
WHOOP! pic.twitter.com/kQpT4adVOL
Nothing like baseball season. You truly never know what you’ll get out of an average afternoon contest.
Melendez’s extra effort ended up the difference between a win and a loss, as the Royals emerged victorious a few innings later over the Guardians, 4–3. Kansas City now sits at 37–26 for the season, good for second behind Cleveland in the AL Central standings.
LIAM MCKEONE
Liam McKeone is a Senior Writer for the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. In addition to his role as a writer, he collaborates with other teams across Minute Media to help define his team’s content strategy. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in 2024, Liam worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, Liam is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books, and video games. Liam has been a member of the National Sports Media Association (NSMA) since 2020.
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