Watch the Marlins’ Jon Berti steal (and bear crawl) home against the New York Mets
The play unfolded so much better in Jon Berti’s head than it did on the field.
He’s standing at third base with two outs late in the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets with the Miami Marlins holding a two-run lead. Third baseman J.D. Davis is standing a few feet back from the bag to protect from a potential big hit from Brian Anderson.
Nevertheless, the play happened.
Berti, the Marlins’ speedy utility infielder, took about a 10-foot lead from third base as Jeryus Familia threw a 97 mph fastball high and outside to Anderson. Berti stopped in his tracks and took a half step back toward third. Then, as Mets rookie catcher lobbed the ball back to Familia, Berti darted, tripped, bear-crawled for about 10 feet down the line, regained his footing and beat out a throw back to home plate.
Berti is safe. Miami gets an insurance run in the sixth inning to cap off a 3-0 win and sweep the Mets in Tuesday’s pair of seven-inning doubleheader games. The Marlins (14-11) won the first game of the day 4-0 and are now a half-game behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East.
“I honestly didn’t realize how far I did bear crawl,” Berti said after watching the replay. “It turned out well, so it’s all good.”
The steal of home and all the highlight reels that come with it came after Berti, who led off the inning with a walk, also stole second and third base earlier in the inning. He became the first player in franchise history to steal three bases in the same inning. He’s the first MLB player to pull off the feat since Mallex Smith did so for the Seattle Mariners on May 27, 2019, against the Texas Rangers. This was the 54th time in baseball history that the feat has occurred, according to Baseball Almanac.
“I’m just kind of leading off with the walk and knowing the situation,” Berti explained. Took a chance right away to get in scoring position. Being up by two and knowing that every run counts, if we can add a third, it would be that much more important. So stole second. Made eye contact with [third base coach] Trey [Hillman] a couple pitches in, thought it might be a good time to go after third base. And then the last one there was a thought that came up in the moment. I always wanted to do it or thought of doing something like that. Fortunately, it worked out.”
“Definitely aggressive baserunning,” was how Mets manager Luis Rojas described it. “One of the things that distinguishes this team that we’re playing against, they’re aggressive — almost reckless to a point. That’s how they play. But on the other hand, I thought that we weren’t heads up. We’ve always got to be on our toes for that kind of baseball because that’s how, as a team, they play on the field.”
Being more aggressive on the basepaths has been a welcomed new factor in the Marlins’ offensive approach this season. Miami ranks third in MLB with 27 stolen bases over 25 games. The two teams ahead of them in the standings — the Mariners (31) and San Diego Padres (28) — have each played six more games than the Marlins.
Jonathan Villar leads the league with nine stolen bases. Berti, after taking three in one inning on Tuesday, is now tied with the Cleveland Indians’ Jose Ramirez for second in the league with eight. Berti, however, has racked up that many steals in just 19 games. Ramirez has played in 30 contests so far this season.
“Just trying to help this team win a ball game,” Berti said.
He has made the most of his role since joining the organization as a minor-league free agent in 2019. Berti’s speed and ability to play just about anywhere in the field made him a valuable player in the Marlins’ rebuild. He led the Marlins with 17 stolen bases last year despite only playing in 73 games. He has a career .271 batting average and a .348 on-base percentage.
“Bert, he’s a kid that we talked about last year. He had a long road to get here,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He’s just a baseball player.”
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