Mike Trout got the Mookie Betts treatment in right field during Saturday’s game against the Houston Astros.
In the second inning, Astros catcher Yainer Diaz lifted a towering fly ball to the Los Angeles Angels star Trout in the right field corner. The ball hooked foul at the last minute, but Trout still managed to get a bead on it.
What Trout wasn’t anticipating though was an Astros fan taking the ball right out of his glove. But that is exactly what happened as a man in the bleachers at Daikin Park used two hands to successfully yank the ball away from a leaping Trout. To make matters worse, the first-base umpire sided with the fan, ruling simply that it was a foul ball rather than fan interference (in spite of Trout’s animated pleas).
Take a look at the clip for yourself.
The basis for the umpire’s ruling might have been that Trout reached into the stands to try to make the catch (rather than the fan reaching out into the field of play). But Trout and the Angels still ended up with a case of “ball don’t lie” because Diaz went on to fly out on the very next pitch to end the inning.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic later reported though that the fan was eventually escorted out of his seat by security. All things considered, the bizarre scene was reminiscent of the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Betts getting a ball yanked out of his glove in last year’s World Series by a couple of New York Yankees fans (who ended up being banned from games by Major League Baseball).
