Players and coaches make many mistakes throughout the course of a 162-game MLB season, so it would be unfair of us to expect the ball boy or ball girl to be perfect. One of the young men working a recent game between the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays needs to keep that in mind.
During the ninth inning of Cleveland’s 6-3 loss to the Rays on Sunday, the ball boy working the right field line had an embarrassing moment when he fielded a ball that was clearly fair and handed it to a young fan. Even the fan realized it was a mistake and tried to immediately give it back.
Everyone has had a day or two like this at the old ball yard. Go get ‘em tomorrow kid. pic.twitter.com/uyp8jeVjGt
— Shane Davis (@CoachDavis43) May 26, 2019
The ball clearly bounced twice in fair territory, but the ball boy was asleep at the wheel. Fortunately, the play did not impact the outcome of the game. It was ruled a ground-rule double, and a double likely would have been the result anyway.
It’s interesting that the flub took place in the ninth, as baseball has been examining a number of different ways to speed up the pace of the game. Perhaps the Indians ball boy would have benefitted from a shorter game in this case.
