Rays OF made big mistake with historic Shohei Ohtani home run ball

May 7, 2023; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays center fielder Jose Siri (22) runs the bases after hitting solo home run against the New York Yankees in the fifth inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Jose Siri did not exactly do Shohei Ohtani any favors after Ohtani hit a historic walk-off grand slam on Friday.

Ohtani joined the 40-40 club in dramatic fashion by hitting a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning of a tie game. In all the chaos, a few eagle-eyed fans noticed that Siri, the Rays’ center fielder, made a bit of a mistake with the ball.

After the ball bounced off some fans in the front row and back onto the field, Siri picked it up and tossed it into the stands instead of leaving it alone or saving it for Ohtani himself to keep.

Jose Siri threw Shohei Ohtani’s 40-40 ball back into the crowd 😭 pic.twitter.com/MTRhxQRzet

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 24, 2024

In fairness to Siri, there’s a pretty good chance the outfielder had no idea the home run represented any sort of milestone. The game situation was chaotic as well, so he can be forgiven for not being aware.

Siri can take comfort in the reality that this was nowhere near as bad as some other similar mistakes we’ve seen.