Jose Bautista saves the day after teammates lose ball in sun

The advantage to having a retractable roof on your stadium is that it allows you to open it up and soak in the sun on a beautiful July afternoon.

Of course, the disadvantage to having a a retractable roof is that once you open it up and let the sun in, it can blind you. And when you’re a major leaguer attempting to catch a major-league pop up, that’s a major issue.

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Such was the scenario that played out Saturday afternoon in Toronto. The weather was picture perfect, which prompted the Blue Jays to open the roof for their afternoon game against the Tampa Bay Rays. But they couldn’t even complete one inning before the sun wreaked havoc on two of their own defenders.

In that first inning, Tampa Bay’s Joey Butler popped up a pitch from R.A. Dickey into shallow right field that sent first baseman Justin Smoak and second baseman Devon Travis in pursuit. Honestly, it would have been a difficult play for either even with the roof closed. With the sun shining down during the peak of the afternoon, it become impossible.

As both players abandoned pursuit, it appeared as though the baseball would fall harmlessly. The only question was whether it would land fair or foul.

That was, until Jose Bautista charged into the picture and saved the day with a remarkable sliding catch.

Indeed, that would have been a fair ball. It’s a good thing Bautista was there, and an even better that he knows to wear the sunglasses on his face, not over his hat. It’s amazing the difference that can make for outfielders.

That might be the first big lesson to take from this play. The second would be Bautista’s hustle. He never assumed and kept charging until someone called him off. When that didn’t happen, he was there to make the play.

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And third, both Smoak and Travis did a great job getting away from the play. When you know you’re out of the play, get out of the way. Any other mindset can and often will lead to disastrous results.

In this case, all of those basic lessons were followed, and the Jays ended up getting a fancy out. Unfortunately for them, despite the catch and a home run from Bautsita later in the game, they just couldn’t get enough of their own baseballs into the sun. They ended up falling 3-2 thanks to Curt Casali’s eighth-inning home runs.

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