An umpire during Wednesday’s game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Athletics showed a little bit of Matrix in him. In the first inning, Tampa Bay star third baseman Junior Caminero made hard contact with Athletics pitcher Brady Basso’s 90 mph cutter. The ball shot just outside the foul line and nearly hit third base umpire Alex MacKay.
Fortunately, the 37-year-old MacKay jumped out of the way just in time, with the ball seemingly grazing his right arm. MacKay then lost his balance and fell to the ground, but he can consider himself lucky he didn’t get injured in the sequence.
Caminero tried to check on MacKay from home plate, with the umpire smiling back at Caminero, indicating that MacKay was fine and ready to get back to work right away.
Here is a video of that moment.
This umpire showed off INSANE reflexes to avoid a Junior Caminero foul ball pic.twitter.com/FUNRvXMNcf
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 17, 2026
Three pitches later, Caminero hit a double before scoring a run after an RBI double by the next batter, Jonny DeLuca.
Overall, Tampa Bay defeated the visiting Athletics, 4-3, as MacKay came away with a story to tell about some real hazards umpires face when performing their duties.
The Rays are now on a five-game winning streak and improved their record to 92-59, still the best in the American League.
