The Royals gifted the Pirates a HR when Michael Taylor accidentally carried ball over the fence
Oh no!
It’s still super early, but the Kansas City Royals are looking like one of the huge surprises of the 2021 MLB season. Kansas City currently holds the best record in baseball, winning 7 of its past 10 games en route to a 15-8 start.
But that doesn’t mean that the Royals can’t have a blooper or two along the way.
The Royals won Wednesday’s interleague matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the game did get a bit more competitive thanks to a phenomenal-catch-turned-blunder by center fielder Michael Taylor.
With nobody on in the fourth, Jacob Stallings hit a deep fly ball to left-center field, and Taylor appeared to make a great, running catch with his momentum taking him to the wall. The problem: He lost the ball at the worst spot.
Jacob Stallings – Pittsburgh Pirates (1) pic.twitter.com/9UcpSycba5
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) April 29, 2021
Here’s a closer look:
“Does he carry this over the fence?”
“He carried it over the wall!!”
The Pirates get gifted a HR
— The Baseball Newsletter (@bbletter) April 29, 2021
As Taylor leaped towards the wall, he banged his elbow against the top of the wall after making the catch. That contact seemingly forced the ball out of his glove and over the fence.
There was initial confusion over what had happened. Was it a great catch? Was it a home run? Where was the ball? Well, it was indeed a home run, and Taylor could only look at his glove and laugh.
Thankfully for Kansas City, the run didn’t really affect the game in the 9-6 win.