Mets OF Cespedes loses track of ball, allows inside-the-park home run

In all fairness here, we don’t know exactly what New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedis saw when A.J. Reed’s long fly ball bounced away from him.

Really, though, it doesn’t even matter.

In the top of the second inning of a spring game between the Mets and Houston Astros Reed sent the ball into deep center field. Cespedes appeared to have a read on it, but was unable to make the catch. It bounced near the wall and after a brief glance the outfielder put his hands up as if he was signaling it was a dead ball. Had the ball bounced over the fence (ground-rule double) or gotten stuck in the wall he would have been correct in doing so.

However, neither of those things happened. Instead the ball just sat there, and while Cespedes was doing nothing Reed was rounding the bases. Maybe Cespedes actually thought the ball was stuck, or perhaps he simply did not want to grab the ball and throw it back to the infield. We may never know.

Umpire C.B. Buckner went out to center field to investigate before making an official ruling, and he quickly realized that it was a live ball the entire time.

The result is a funny highlight, which is good for us. And for Cespedes, it’s a good thing this is an exhibition game.

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