Addison Russell shows off hustle with phenomenal run-saving grab

When there’s a catch everyone’s talking about, sometimes you see it and you say “Yeah, that’s cool.” And then there are times you see the day’s most talked-about catch and say “HOLY CRAP WHAT DID HE JUST DO, THAT IS AN AMAZING CATCH.” This is one of those “HOLY CRAP” catches.

The stakes for this particular catch were pretty high. It was the bottom of the seventh inning in Wednesday’s Pittsburgh Pirates-Chicago Cubs game, and the bases were loaded with Pirates. The Cubs had led 5-1 at the beginning of the inning, but pitcher Trevor Cahill had loaded the bases, and Cahill’s replacement (Justin Grimm) had walked in a run. There were two outs, but the Pirates were dangerously close to mounting a comeback, just like they did several times on Monday night.

With the comeback in its infancy, Gregory Polanco came to the plate to face Grimm. Their battle was short: Polanco swung at Grimm’s very first pitch and sent it toward the third base line. But it wasn’t going to fall in foul ground, so unless the Cubs wanted at least one (and probably more) runs to score for the Pirates, someone had to get to this ball.

Three fielders ran to catch Polanco’s pop-up. And of the three, shortstop Addison Russell was the farthest away. In the video, there are two guys on either side running for the ball, and then there’s Russell cutting through them in an all-out sprint toward the third base line. He made it first, his eye on the ball the entire time, and he went into a slide on his knees to cover the last few feet. And as he slid from his knees to his side, the ball fell into his glove like a magnet. It was a thing of beauty.

For a split second, it looked like Russell couldn’t believe he’d done it. But he did. He held his glove high and gave a righteous fist pump before right fielder Matt Szczur gave him some pats on the arm and helped him up. On the mound, Justin Grimm raised his arms in celebration and then pointed to Russell in thanks. The crowd was insane, and the announcers in the Cubs booth were stunned and speechless.

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Stunned and speechless are appropriate responses considering what Russell did.

That’s absolutely insane. And his catch made a difference, too. Even though the Pirates would score two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth, the Cubs held them off and won 6-5. Without that catch, the game could have gone completely differently. So hats off to Addison Russell for executing such a phenomenal, amazing, unbelievable, stupendous, game-saving HOLY CRAP catch. That one belongs in the top ten of 2016 for sure.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher