When Cody Ross snagged Brayan Pena's fly ball in the first inning, his momentum propelled him to the wall. At that point, he bobbled the ball off the Kauffman Stadium wall and eventually trapped it right back.
From umpire Chris Guccione's perspective, it was a drop. Despite inquires from Ross and Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, the call stood as two runs scored –– the key difference between Wednesday's 4-3 loss.
"I thought I caught the ball, took a couple good steps, then went to go brace myself against the chain-link fence, and the ball just kind of came out," Ross said. "I really didn’t think anything of it. When I saw it pop out I just kind of grabbed it, turned around and I expected to run off the field. And I saw [Mike] Aviles waving at me to throw it, so I threw it in. I guess he thought that I didn’t catch it."
In reality, the umpires made the right call. According to Major League Baseball regulations, a sequence isn't ruled a catch when a player –– upon making contact with the ball –– collides into a wall and drops the ball.
But Valentine insisted he was aware of the rules, which is why he didn't argue the call any further. Despite the unorthodox blunder, Ross was still upset that it resulted in the team's loss.
"They’d scored two runs and those are two big runs right there," Ross said. "I catch the ball, we’re out of the inning. It ended up being a big inning for them. But it happens.”
Ross, however, said he's never been involved in a sequence quite like that one.
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