The best kind of baseball defies explanation, and that’s exactly what Justin Bour gave spectators during the Angels-Cubs game on Saturday.
In the top of the first inning, with two outs and the bases empty, Bour lined an 0-1 pitch from Kyle Hendricks into the right field corner, where it was promptly scooped by Ben Zobrist. Zobrist fired the ball back toward first base, forcing Bour to dive back to the bag at the last second, but the ball ricocheted off of Bour’s foot and caromed toward the dugout.
Bour took off for second base and beat a close tag from Javier Báez, but in doing so, turned away from umpire Marty Foster and apparently missed the safe call. As he made a slow return to the Angels’ dugout, Báez had plenty of time to run over and apply the tag for the inning-ending out.
Watch it all unfold here:
The Angels didn’t suffer too horribly for the missed call; following two RBI singles from David Fletcher and Zack Cozart, a productive double play from Chris Stratton, and a pair of run-scoring walks from Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun, they lead the Cubs 5-2 in the seventh.