Monday night was one to forget for the San Francisco Giants as they fell to the Washington Nationals by a final score of 5-1 in their series opener.
However, there still were some interesting moments for the Giants.
One of the key moments in the game came in the top of the seventh inning.
Washington led 5-0 at the time.
But with two runners on base and two outs, infielder Jeimer Candelario hit one out to shallow left field, which forced a little bit of extra movement from Mitch Haniger.
However, Haniger got to the ball just in time by diving and making a truly impressive catch to hold the Nats in check.
On Twitter, NBCS, the TV home of the Giants, posted a video of Haniger’s highlight-reel catch.
What a catch by Haniger 🤯 pic.twitter.com/a1lauCCotN
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 9, 2023
Haniger’s catch helped keep the Nationals at bay in the seventh inning.
The veteran outfielder certainly had a lot of ground to cover in order to get to Candelario’s soft line drive.
From then on, the Nationals did not score any more runs.
San Francisco tallied one in the bottom of the ninth on Joc Pederson’s solo home run before ultimately falling short.
But Haniger’s catch was certainly a highlight-reel play and one of the key moments in Monday night’s game.
Unfortunately, Haniger didn’t get anything going at the plate, as he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
However, his defense was on display against the Nationals.
Had the ball gotten by him, two runs may have scored to put the game further out of reach.
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