Minor-league player misses home plate after go-ahead homer, team loses
Hitting a home run is no easy task. It takes incredible hand-eye coordination to even put a bat on a ball, so making contact on the sweet spot and driving a ball out of the park is incredibly impressive. What comes next is supposed to be easy.
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Well, that wasn’t the case for the Delmarva Shorebirds on Sunday. With the team trailing by one run in the ninth inning, Elier Leyva stepped to the plate looking to play the hero. For a brief moment, he did just that.
Leyva blasted what appeared to be the go-ahead home run. The two-run shot would have given his club a one run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. We say would have because Leyva made a terribly embarrassing mistake after hitting the blast.
Watch Leyva’s feet in that video. He never touches home plate.
The Augusta GreenJackets appealed the play, and Leyva was ruled out. He was credited with an RBI triple after his gaffe.
Instead of giving his team the lead, Leyva merely tied the game. It came back to haunt him in the end. The GreenJackets were able to pick up a walk-off win on a Dylan Davis single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Honestly, we feel pretty bad for the Leyva. It was an awful mistake, and certainly something that will stay with a player for possibly the rest of his career.
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If there’s a positive in all of this, it’s probably that Leyva will never make this mistake again. We suspect he’ll pay extra attention to his footwork the next time he’s trotting around the bases after hitting a home run.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
