Martin Maldonado actually hits the cover off the ball

Announcers like to say that guys “hit the cover off the ball” all the time, but how often is that literally what happened? Brewers backup catcher Martin Maldonado did just that against Charlie Morton and the Pirates. While he didn’t exactly hit it hard — he pounded it into the ground — the ball fell apart as it reached poor Pedro Alvarez, who had to try to throw a ball that was in pieces. Maldonado reached first safely on what was ruled an infield hit, because you can’t charge an error to Rawlings in the box score.