Last season, Dominic Smith ranked 452nd in all of baseball with an average spring speed of 26.2 feet per second, per Statcast.
He used every bit of that speed (or lack thereof), to keep the Mets' hopes alive on Monday night, legging out a hustle infield single to score two with New York down to its last out in St. Louis.
Smith laced a hard grounder down the first base line that was snagged by Paul Goldschmidt right on the edge of the infield dirt, but Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos didn't immediately break for first base to cover the bag, and Smith took off.
"First thought is 'get through,' and then see him make the play, and just try to hustle as hard as you can to beat him," Smith said after the Mets completed a 5-2 win thanks in large part to his all-out effort.
"I saw the closer didn't get over right away, and I just ran as hard as I could."
Smith's fastest isn't all that fast, but his hustle still caught Gallegos off guard, and ran "the fasted 90 of his life," as Jeff McNeil joked afterward, and made something happen when the game could have easily been over.
"I had a step on him, so my first thought was to avoid the tag if I slid there, but he didn't get over right away, so that gave me a chance to beat him over there to first base," Smith said.
Even Smith himself acknowledged that he wasn't exactly blazing it down the first base line, but it was certainly a maximum effort that saved the day for the surging Mets.
"I felt slow but I was trying to run hard," Smith laughed. "I was trying to run my fastest. We'll have to get the times, and maybe next year I can beat it eventually."
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