Javier Baez made a defensive gem on the piece of gum that fell out of his mouth
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Javier Báez is good at defense. This is demonstrable fact. There are a number of plays from the Cubs' 6-5 win over the Giants in NLDS Game 4 that we could point to for evidence, like the catch and throw he made on Denard Span's single in the third inning (who was safe, sure, but not for lack of effort on Baez's part) or the perfect tag he placed on Span as he subsequently attempted to steal second:
But in our esteemed critical opinion, his true gem didn't come on the field. Rather, it came in the dugout as Baez had a little trouble keeping a piece of gum in his mouth:
Baez may have bobbled it a couple of times, but have no doubts: He snagged it.
Those baseball reflexes come in handy sometimes, huh? They certainly did in the ninth inning, when Baez capped the Cubs' rally with his go-ahead single that sent Chicago to the NLCS.
Watch Baez take his gems to NLCS Game 1 on Saturday, time TBD, on FS1/Fox.