Scott injures ankle attempting another miraculous catch in center

ST. LOUIS -- Even on a gimpy left ankle injured earlier in the night, Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II flashed his blinding speed to cover 88 feet and track down a liner in the left-center gap by Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon in the fifth inning of Saturday's 12-8 loss to the Yankees.

Remarkably, that play wasn’t even Scott’s best effort of the night.

When Aaron Judge hit Sonny Gray’s first pitch of the third inning a Statcast-projected 399 feet, Scott tore across the outfield, covered a jaw-dropping 95 feet and nearly brought back the Yankees slugger’s first career home run versus the Cardinals after going high above the center-field wall with his glove.

After his midair collision with the wall, Scott landed awkwardly and ended up spraining his left ankle. The disgust Scott showed was both because he injured himself and he was unable to rob yet another home run in a spectacular defensive season for the second-year center fielder.

"It was pretty incredible what he can do. At this point you almost expect him to do it,” Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker said of Scott’s near robbery of the Judge home run. “Man, if he had made that catch, it might have been the catch of the year with the amount of distance he had to cover to get there. But for Vic, it’s just second nature.”

Scott, 24, suffered a sprained ankle on the robbery attempt and was taken to an area facility after the game to undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. With first baseman Willson Contreras (right foot contusion) and second baseman Brendan Donovan (left foot/groin soreness) out injured -- but not on the injured list, leaving the Cardinals shorthanded -- St. Louis will need to make a roster move on Sunday morning if Scott is unable to play in the finale against the Yankees, manager Oliver Marmol said.

"He was trying to play through it, but he felt it on one of his last swings when he was coming out of the box with the change of direction,” Marmol said of Scott, who stayed in the game despite injuring the ankle in the third inning. “Going and get it in the outfield, not so much. But the at-bat is what got him.”

The loss of Scott was another crippling blow for a Cardinals team that lost its fourth straight game. The Cards entered the day still just 3 1/2 games back of the Mets for the NL’s third Wild Card slot, but they dropped another full game back following Saturday’s ugly defeat.

Sonny Gray, who had allowed just two earned runs over his last two outings against the Dodgers and Cubs, surrendered two runs in the first inning and was unable to hold a lead after the Cards had rallied to take a 5-2 lead.

Gray surrendered that third-inning homer to Judge, and Ben Rice whacked a three-run shot in the following frame. Gray, who has admitted to struggling in St. Louis’ stifling summer heat, has given up nine home runs in six starts after the MLB All-Star Game after yielding 10 homers in his first 19 starts. In 2024 -- Gray’s first season in St. Louis -- 13 of the 21 homers he yielded came in the second half.

"It was just wet, really wet, and I was fighting it,” said Gray, who was tagged for nine hits, six earned runs and two homers in five innings of work. “I was trying to stay mentally in it. I think everyone fought it today. Everyone was missing up because the ball was squirting out of their hands.”

There was a bit of surprise when Scott couldn’t get his hands on Judge’s home run ball because he’s been so good defensively this season.

The speedy center fielder came into Saturday sixth in MLB in outs above average (16) and second among all center fielders behind only Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong (18), per Baseball Savant. What's more, he has a 94% success rate compared to an estimated 89%, based on degree of difficulty.

“We’re seeing a combination of his routes, his jumps, his first step and his acceleration improve," said Marmol. "And then you add the top speed to it, and he’s getting to more. But there’s been a lot of work put in, starting in the offseason, Spring Training and then the work he puts in every day with [coach Jon] Jay. But we are seeing a better version of him this season.”

Added Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn, MLB’s leader in outs above average (21): “He’s been pretty incredible out there and that speed is something you can’t teach. The stuff he can do is pretty special.”