Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo tricked Astros TV announcer into premature HR call
Every baseball broadcaster has a different approach to calling games from the booth. Some are experts at judging the ball off the bat and prefer to keep an eye on the game action in front of them. Others might use the game monitor a bit more, particularly at ballparks with press boxes up high (looking at you, Nationals Park).
But if you're going to use the monitor, just hope that the camera operator is following the ball.
That didn't exactly happen during Wednesday's game in Houston.
With Kevin Eschenfelder on the call, the Houston Astros' Kyle Tucker drove a fly ball to deep right field against the Boston Red Sox. And by looking at where the camera zoomed, it was easy to expect a home run. Alex Verdugo even climbed the wall as if the ball was heading into the stands. The ball, however, landed in Verdugo's glove for a fly out in front of the wall.
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Unfortunately for Eschenfelder, he didn't wait for that and already said, "And you can forget about this one!" He corrected himself once Verdugo caught it. But hey, he noticed the mistake quicker than John Sterling normally does even though he did indeed pull a John Sterling.
To be fair, Verdugo's leap at the wall would have thrown off plenty of broadcasters. He even had the time to leap at the wall, land and make a simple standing catch. Maybe he did that on purpose as a prank on the announcer, but he almost certainly misread the ball and then recovered.
Well played, nonetheless.