Seattle Mariners star centerfielder Julio Rodríguez showed off his acting skills during Tuesday's game against the San Diego Padres by confusing everyone about whether he robbed Fernando Tatis Jr. of a home run.
Tatis hit the ball at 108.7 mph and was on his way to his 20th homer of the season in the fourth inning. Rodríguez jumped at the wall and everything happened too fast for fans at T-Mobile Park to be sure if the ball was out of the park. Even the broadcasters had doubts he had caught the ball.
Rodríguez started slowly walking back toward the infield, but suddenly he started smiling wide and opened his glove to show his achievement, letting everyone know that this was a no-fly zone.
"It just kind of happened in the moment," Rodríguez said, per MLB.com. "Obviously, me and Tatis are really good friends. And for him being the one that hit it, it was just kind of like, 'Man, I got you.' I wasn't expecting him to be almost at third when I caught it, but it was a really nice play. We didn't cross paths. But I definitely saw the reaction from a lot of people."
Rodriguez admitted that he wasn't intentionally trying to trick people at the beginning, but once he saw the opportunity to have some fun with it, he decided to take his time clarifying the situation.
"For me, I thought everybody knew that I caught it,"Rodríguez. "But I was walking back and was like, 'OK, I feel like nobody really sees it.' Even the umpire was waiting on it to see it. He was right there. That was kind of cool."
While there were definitely many who were doubting Rodríguez, Tatis said he knew right away that his friend had robbed him.
"I knew he caught it," Tatis said. "I know him very well. But, (shoo). ... I just knew he was going to try to do something like that, but I saw it go into his glove. Yeah, he got everybody."
The Mariners won the first of a two-game series against the Padres with a 2-0 result. They will face each other again on Wednesday at 9:40 p.m. ET in Seattle.
