Mauricio Dubón didn’t make the catch, but he may have made the play of the game anyway. During Tuesday’s matchup at loanDepot park, the Braves outfielder pulled off a heads-up deception that briefly froze Miami’s baserunner and potentially prevented a bigger inning for the Marlins. In a game Atlanta eventually won 8-4, Dubón’s awareness in left field became one of the afternoon’s defining moments.
The sequence unfolded in the bottom of the third inning with the Braves trailing 3-2. Christopher Morel ripped an 0-2 pitch from Martín Pérez deep toward the left-field wall. Dubón sprinted back and, as the ball carried over his head, he intentionally turned his back toward the infield as though he were preparing to make a catch at the wall.
For a split second, it worked perfectly.
Otto Lopez, who had been running from first base, hesitated between second and third while reading Dubón’s body language. That pause gave Dubón enough time to recover the ball after it bounced off the wall and fire it back into the infield before Lopez could score.
Dubón Explains the Risky Braves Bluff
Dubón later explained that the move was completely intentional.
“Those are things that I have practiced many times. I knew the ball was going over my head,” Dubón said in Spanish. “I tried to give Martín a chance to keep Lopez from scoring. The most important thing is to think about that stuff quickly.”
The veteran utility player said his reaction happened instinctively in the moment.
“I was like ‘I didn’t catch a ball, so let me see what I can do here so that the runner stops,’” Dubón added. “I spent a lot of time thinking about stuff like that, and that’s what I came up with.”
The Marlins still managed to plate Lopez later in the inning on an Esteury Ruiz sacrifice fly, but Dubón’s quick thinking may have prevented additional damage from developing.
A Reputation Built on Baseball IQ
That type of baseball intelligence has become part of Dubón’s reputation in Atlanta. Known primarily for his defensive flexibility and ability to play nearly every position on the field, he added another example of his instincts Tuesday with a veteran trick rarely seen executed so cleanly.
After the game, Dubón brushed off the attention with a laugh.
“It’s just part of the job,” he said.
Manager Walt Weiss praised both the deception and the awareness behind it.
“He’s a savvy player, it’s a great deep ball right there,” Weiss said. “He acted like he was going to catch it. He’s got a really high baseball IQ. We talked about him being a winning player, and that’s part of that. He’s been a great find for us.”
Dubón Delivers at the Plate Too
The defensive play wasn’t Dubón’s only contribution in Atlanta’s comeback win. Batting second behind Ronald Acuña Jr., who returned from the injured list Monday, Dubón also delivered offensively when the Braves needed it most.
He finished the afternoon 3-for-5 with a double, two singles, and a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning as Atlanta broke the game open late. The Braves scored four runs across the final two innings to pull away from Miami and secure the 8-4 victory.
By the end of the afternoon, Dubón had impacted the game in nearly every possible way, with his glove, his instincts, and a timely bat that helped Atlanta finish the comeback.
