A bizarre double play and a bird? Rays, Tigers have 'ridiculous half-inning'

LAKELAND, Fla. -- It started off as a highlight-reel play by one of the best defensive prospects in baseball. Then it turned into ¡­ something else entirely.

With one out in the first inning and Riley Greene at the plate on Wednesday afternoon, Rays starter Ryan Pepiot fired a fastball that Greene smacked just over the second-base bag. Tampa Bay shortstop Carson Williams moved to his left, then left his feet -- sprawling out and hitting the dirt to snare Greene¡¯s 92.1 mph line drive before it landed.

Williams pushed himself up onto his right knee, stretched his left leg and aimed a throw to first baseman Jonathan Aranda. Javier B¨¢ez, who¡¯d been on first base, was more than halfway to second when Williams made the catch. But B¨¢ez, oddly, pulled up and hopped in the air outside of the baseline as Williams threw the ball, in an apparent attempt to block the throw.

"He was actually delayed stealing, which put him in that position, which got him closer to the base. And then he jumped up on the catch,¡± said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, shaking his head. ¡°Yeah."

As Carlos Pe?a put it in the Tigers¡¯ TV booth, ¡°There¡¯s so many things that are going wrong.¡±

The ball caromed off the front of B¨¢ez¡¯s helmet and went flying. As B¨¢ez lingered near second base, his helmet knocked off, the ball soared over Aranda¡¯s head and into foul territory close to the Tigers¡¯ dugout. Aranda eventually grabbed the ball and slowly trotted over to step on first base, completing the double play.

¡°That one buckled me. I don't think Aranda knew what to do,¡± Rays manager Kevin Cash said. ¡°Ball went over his head. He just kind of looked at it.

¡°I've never seen anything like that. Bizarre. Glad nobody got hurt.¡±

B¨¢ez left without speaking to reporters after the game, and Williams declined an interview request following the Tigers¡¯ 5-1 win at Joker Marchant Stadium. Their play was the centerpiece of a bizarre day that included another strange play in the first -- making for ¡°a ridiculous half-inning of Spring Training baseball,¡± as Tigers play-by-play broadcaster Jason Benetti said -- and, later on, a bird nearly getting in on the action at first base.

Pepiot¡¯s first inning began in unusual fashion after he gave up an infield single to Gleyber Torres. Up came B¨¢ez, who rolled a grounder to third baseman Junior Caminero. Looking to start a double play, Caminero's throw to second base drew Coco Montes off the bag, seemingly thwarting their attempt.

But Torres ran through the bag without sliding. Montes stayed with the play and made the heads-up tag on Torres for the first out of the inning.

¡°Throw kind of pulled me off, and he didn't slide. So he kind of messed up there, I got the tag, and we got an out,¡± Montes said.

One batter later came the unusual jump by B¨¢ez. Montes said he was watching Williams throw the ball, but he heard ¡°a loud bang¡± as the ball ricocheted off B¨¢ez¡¯s helmet.

¡°I¡¯ve seen guys get hit not sliding on the double-play ball,¡± Montes said, ¡°but never anything like that.¡±

On the mound, Pepiot was thankful to get out of the inning -- but still a bit confused.

¡°I literally saw [Williams] dive and catch it, and I was, like, 'Oh, nice. Sweet.' And then I was like, 'Oh, perfect. He's over there.¡¯ And then he throws it, and I was like, 'Where did the ball go?'¡± Pepiot said. ¡°I didn't know where it hit him, where it went off, but apparently [Williams] said that B¨¢ez did it on purpose and jumped ¡­ He¡¯s like, 'Are you OK?' And he's like, 'Yeah. It hit the top of my head. I'm fine.¡¯¡±

Just another case of Javy being Javy?

"No,¡± Hinch said. ¡°It's Spring Training being late Spring Training. It's getting time to leave."