As He Tumbled Over the Wall, Austin Jackson Had a Flashback to Torii Hunter

As he flipped over the wall, Austin Jackson realized he’d seen this before.

Austin Jackson is hardly the first guy to go tumbling over Fenway’s low rightfield wall, but what are the odds that he was on the field for two of the most memorable such instances?

On Monday night, Jackson made what has to be the catch of the year, robbing Hanley Ramirez of a home run and flipping into the Boston bullpen in the process. 

Jackson explained after the game that he realized in the moment he had seen this before. 

“It’s crazy how much time you have to think about all of that stuff, even when it’s happening that fast,” Jackson said, according to Cleveland.com. “As my feet are flipping over, for some reason, I was thinking about that same play that I saw with Torii.”

As luck would have it, Jackson was playing centerfield in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS against the Red Sox when David Ortiz hit his iconic game-tying grand slam into the Boston bullpen. 

Coincidentally, Jackson’s teams lost in walk-off fashion on both occasions. Jarrod Saltalamacchia won it with a one-run single in 2013 and last night Christian Vasquez hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth and the Red Sox trailing by one.