Very few plays in Ernie Clement’s MLB career sum him up better than the infield single he hit Tuesday night in Yankee Stadium.
The Toronto Blue Jays‘ right-handed batter chopped a hard grounder to the backhand side of first baseman Ben Rice, who was playing a sizable distance away from the bag.
Clement sensed a chance, and he took off full throttle. In the end, Clement’s head first slide and touch of the base with his left hand beat Rice’s foot there by a split-second. Safe.
In an era defined by the long ball, Clement isn’t that player. He’s a contact wizard (who can occasionally run into a homer like he did in Game 2 of the ALDS off Max Fried) who plays with his hair on fire.
On Tuesday night, despite Toronto’s loss, Clement earned a lot of well-deserved attention. He didn’t go deep, but instead, he was 4-for-4 with a double.
MORE: Why fans are convinced Derek Jeter will replace Aaron Boone as Yankees manager
It was the first time in Clement’s career that he had gone 4-for-4 in a game.
This season, he had a 5-for-6, two 4-for-5s and even a 4-for-7.
But until ALDS Game 3, Clement had never gotten a hit in all four of his at bats in a major league game.
This is a guy who was discarded by the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Guardians because they didn’t think he could make it.
But the Blue Jays gave him a chance a couple seasons ago, and more often than not, Clement has proven it to be the right decision.
He’s an old-school ballplayer with the high socks to prove it.
But he’s also a winner, even having won a college baseball national championship as a freshman at Virginia.
And right now, the Blue Jays need winners. “Winning plays” are talked about a lot more in other sports than they are in baseball.
But beating a groundball to the first baseman out for an infield single? That’s a winning play. That’s what Clement does.