Photo via @Hornerfoto1

Sometimes a camera captures a moment so perfectly that it can be hard to believe it’s real. That’s the case with the above photo, taken by Christopher Horner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ spring training matchup Sunday against the Atlanta Braves.

When a bat went flying into the crowd mid-game, presumably from a batter losing his grip after a swing, it turned into a heat-seeking missile coming right at a kid who was paying little or no attention to the action on the field. The kid was holding his cell phone in his hand, and the bat could have hit him in the head and caused serious damage. Fortunately, a man sitting to the right of the child threw out his arm to deflect the bat, and that’s the incredible moment that was caught by Horner’s camera.

@BiertempfelTrib The two frames showing just how close the bat was to the boy’s head. pic.twitter.com/7VwnfWp8L1

— Christopher Horner (@Hornerfoto1) March 6, 2016

Saying this was a close call is too kind. It’s almost a miracle, both the man’s incredible save and the fact that such a spectacular moment was caught by a camera lens.