While the Oakland Athletics were defeated 7-3 by the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, the game’s top highlight was supplied by Oakland outfielder, Ramón Laureano. While Laureano is known primarily for his incredible throwing arm, his glovework also provides highlights. That’s what happened on Saturday, albeit in a strange manner.
With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, San Francisco’s Yermin Mercedes came up and sent a ball to right field. Off the bat, it didn’t seem as though a great catch was going to be needed. It was a high fly ball to shallow right field and Laureano had plenty of time to get underneath the ball for a routine catch. Then things got interesting or terrifying — depending on one’s perspective. Laureano slipped and fell and it seemed as though the ball would fall to the ground. Then, Laureano flipped the script again.
Laureano quickly got onto his side, pushed himself over to his right and stabbed at the ball, hauling it in for one of the most adventurous flyouts to shallow right field that anyone will ever see.
Ramón somehow still caught this 😅 pic.twitter.com/gjiGPqaGIB
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 7, 2022
Baseball fans watching the game were impressed by the catch.
That Laureano catch was wild. #BayBridgeSeries pic.twitter.com/NINDava4og
— Toyota Fan Zone (@ToyotaFanZone) August 7, 2022
LOL wow. Ramón Laureano!
— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) August 7, 2022
Ramón Laureano gives the A's portion of the crowd something to cheer for. He nearly overruns a lazy flyball, slips, falls on his butt, but is able to throw himself back from from ground to stick with the play and make the inning-ending catch. Textbook. #DrumTogether
— Uprooted (@uprootedoakland) August 7, 2022
Ramón Laureano slips and falls, reaches to his right while sitting and somehow still made the catch look casual.
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) August 7, 2022
We can only assume that A’s manager Mark Kotsay, pitcher Sam Selman and anyone cheering for the A’s (including Laureano himself) would rather see this ball caught more conventionally.
But conventional isn’t always an option. Slips are going to happen sometime. When they do, it’s nice to be athletic enough to still make the play. Laureano definitely has that going for him.
[A’s on NBCS on Twitter]
