If you aren't watching Game 2 of the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers (GameTracker), then you missed a weird play -- one that kept the Astros from potentially piling on early.

The oddness went down in the third inning, with Rich Hill pitching to Alex Bregman and runners on the corners. Bregman hit a line drive to left-center that got down in front of a diving Chris Taylor. The ball bounced and, fortunately for the Dodgers, hit off the brim of Taylor's cap, deflecting all the way to left fielder Joc Pederson. Here's the play in motion:

Don't let the sequence's absurdity obscure that the Dodgers caught a break here -- except, arguably, for Taylor, who'll probably have a bruise from where his hat pushed against his head.

Think about it this way: If the ball gets by Taylor, it might've bounced all the way to the wall. The Astros come away with at least two runs that way, and Bregman is probably standing at third base with Jose Altuve coming to the plate. The entire dynamic shifts in a way that could've well resulted in a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.

Obviously we'll never know for sure what happens in that alternative universe. But we do know what happened in this one -- the Dodgers lucked out.