NEW YORK -- With a sensational catch in a clutch spot, Sal Frelick not only kept the Brewers' no-hit bid alive in the 10th inning on Sunday, but he kept the game alive -- period.
With Yankees runners on first and second, Brewers rookie Abner Uribe on the mound and the teams locked in a scoreless tie, Anthony Volpe smacked a sharp line drive to the right-field wall. Frelick sprinted to his right and made an unreal leaping catch while colliding with center fielder Joey Wiemer, coming up with the ball after the two crashed into the wall.
After the Brewers took the lead in the 11th, Oswaldo Cabrera connected on an RBI double to end Milwaukee's bid for the first 11-inning no-hitter in MLB history. The Yankees would go on to win the game, 4-3, in the 13th.
“Between the stakes during the game and the no-hitter going, it’s just, if a ball’s in the air, you’re going to go get it," Frelick said. "Hopefully you don’t run into anything too hard. It was up there, it was kind of tailing back toward me as I pulled it down."
"That was a heck of a play," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "And to keep playing after a play like that is incredible."
Was Frelick worried about the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Wiemer running just as hard in the opposite direction?
"While the ball is in the air, you’re not really thinking about that," Frelick said. "You’re just trying to go make a catch and make a play, extend the game. Fortunately, everybody is healthy."
Wiemer appeared to absorb the worst of it, suffering a laceration inside his mouth on the collision. But he stayed in the game and delivered a go-ahead double in the 12th for the Brewers' second lead in as many innings.
Ultimately, it got away. But it still went down as one of the Brewers' most entertaining games of the season.
"Those are the fun ones," Frelick said. "Those are the ones you want to play in, the really competitive ones."