Toronto's Chris Coghlan called it instinct. It was more like a leap of faith.
Coghlan made an acrobatic, run-scoring bound over St. Louis All-Star catcher Yadier Molina, and Marcus Stroman came across with the go-ahead run after pinch hitting in the 11th inning and doubling for his first major league hit in the Blue Jays' 6-5 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.
With the score 2-2, Coghlan walked in the seventh and sped around the bases on Kevin Pillar's triple in the right-field corner, which hit high off the fence over Stephen Piscotty and bounced back toward the infield.
Piscotty's throw to the plate was slightly up the third-base line, and Molina leaned down to pick up the ball after its third hop. As Molina reached for the ball, the 31-year-old Coghlan hurled himself over the catcher, somersaulted and landed on the plate with his helmet and left hand.
"I was coming around third and I looked to my left to see where the ball was and I saw it was going to beat me and probably the last step or two I saw Yadi go down," Coghlan said. "You're first thought is, 'OK, I'm going to run him over cause he's right over the plate.' And then I was thinking, 'since he's down, why don't you jump?'"
Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada couldn't believe it.
"When I saw Coghlan do a front flip over Molina, it was like I saw a unicorn or something," Estrada said. "It's just something that never happens. You might not ever see that again."
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was impressed.
"He got up there didn't he? You've got to win that game because that's what made it worthwhile," Gibbons said. "You probably don't see that for 100 years."
Coghlan actually made contact with Molina's shoulder, which prevented what could have been a dangerous landing.
"It was going to be an ugly fall because I just didn't have enough momentum going forward so it helped that I hit Yadi," Coghlan said. "It kicked my feet up so it wasn't that bad of a landing."
Coghlan's joked with reporters after the game that he was doing his best Willie Mays Hayes impersonation. Coghlan's leap is eerily similar to one by the fictional ball player played by Omar Epps in 1994's Major League II.