Bizarre way to win one
Kobel’s popup hits catwalk, lands fair
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – This popup took a bad hop.
Jason Kubel’s two-out pop clanked off a catwalk high above Tropicana Field and fell behind the pitcher’s mound for a go-ahead single in the ninth inning, a true dome run that sent the Minnesota Twins past the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6 Thursday.
“I’ll take it,” Kubel said. “Get a run in, that’s all that matters. Anyway it works. I’m happy with that.”
After the Rays scored six times in the eighth, capped by pinch-hitter Jason Bartlett’s grand slam that made it 6-all, the Twins rallied in most unusual fashion.
Minnesota put runners at the corners and Kubel lofted his pop. Tampa Bay second baseman Reid Brignac and shortstop Bartlett backed up and got in position to catch the ball, but it struck the highest metal catwalk – about 190 feet over the field – and changed direction.
No Rays fielder could recover in time to catch the ball before it landed 15 feet behind the mound.
By rule, the ball was in play and there were no arguments or discussions. More than 100 balls have hit the four catwalks since the ballpark opened in 1998.“It pretty much can’t happen any place but here,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I know it works both ways but to lose a game in a pennant situation like that because of a roof indicates why there’s a crying need for a new ballpark.”