Player’s stellar effort confuses announcers, camera operator

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh flew out to shallow left field in his sixth inning of Friday’s game against the Houston Astros. While that may seem like a routine play, it was anything but — and neither was the call of it.

The popup went down the third base line of Houston’s Minute Maid Park. Houston left fielder Joey Loperfido came in on the ball, while third baseman Alex Bregman and shortstop Jeremy Peña both charged back. Peña lunged for the ball but could not stop himself and he tumbled over the low fence into the front row.

“Peña, did he do it?” exclaimed Todd Kalas, calling the game for the Astros on Space City Home Network.

“Is he ok?” color commentator Geoff Blum immediately asked.

“Peña makes the catch and goes tumbling, à la Derek Jeter into the stands,” Kalas said, referencing the Hall of Famer’s famed 2004 catch against the Boston Red Sox. “And he came up with the catch.”

“That is incredible,” Blum added. “He has been playing his tail off on defense.”

Nobody seemed to realize who actually caught this ball. pic.twitter.com/OVy7Ho1UbX

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 4, 2024

At this point, Peña had already pulled himself out of the stands and was back on the field. Loperfido gave his teammate a pat on the back and shortly after that, it became apparent that Peña did not catch the ball. After patting Peña on the back, Loperfido, who slid on the play, pulled the ball out of his glove.

“Did Peña catch it? Or Loperfido got it,” Kalas said.

“Did he really?” Blum responded.

“Loperfido caught it and Peña couldn’t stop his momentum,” a chuckling Kalas said. “Loperfido comes up with this.”

“How did Loperfido stay with it? This is incredible,” Blum added.

In fairness to both Kalas and Blum, the camera stayed on Peña as he crashed into the stands. And in fairness to the camera operator, as great as Loperfido’s catch was, Peña falling over the fence was even more spectacular — even if it did create some temporary confusion.

[Photo Credit: Space City Network]