The Tampa Bay Rays went Little League on the Dodgers on Saturday, and their tactic worked.
The Rays successfully executed the hidden ball trick to help them get out of a fourth-inning jam in Los Angeles. They were down 4-0 with the bases loaded when A.J. Ellis hit a sacrifice fly to center. Juan Uribe, who was at second, moved up to third on the sac fly. After the run scored, Uribe had his head down and stopped keeping track of the play. While he wasn’t paying attention, the Rays threw the ball to Evan Longoria, who tagged him out as soon as he took his foot off of third.
Instead of having runners on second and third with one out, the Dodgers were left with a man on second and two outs after Uribe’s mistake.
[Related: Dodgers tease Juan Uribe with gag gift after game]
The play was executed so smoothly, it left FOX broadcasters Chris Myers and Eric Karros confused. They thought Uribe was called out for leaving second base too early on his tag up, but they later learned it was because of the Rays’ trick play.
