All the Royals’ Ryan O’Hearn could do was watch.
O’Hearn was playing first base Wednesday in the Royals’ 4-0 loss to the Angels at Kauffman Stadium, and he would have needed to be roughly 4 feet taller to catch a really awful throw from relief pitcher Dylan Coleman.
Let’s rewind.
The Angels led 2-0 in the seventh inning but had a runner on third with no outs when shortstop Andrew Velazquez stepped to the plate.
Coleman’s pitch ran in on Velazquez, but he swung. The ball traveled all of 2 feet and had an exit velocity of 48.3 mph. Coleman scrambled off the mound and pounced on the ball as it was rolling toward him.
Because of Velazquez’s speed, it looked to be a close play at first. But Coleman decided to throw the ball underhand, and it was, well, a bit off the mark. The ball sailed over O’Hearn’s head and rolled into right field as Velazquez made his way to third.
It’s fair to say that Coleman would like to have this one back (video from Jomboy Media).
Here is the call from the Royals television crew, via Anne Rogers of MLB.com.