It sure looked like Mike Trout caught that ball. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images)
(Brandon Sloter via Getty Images)
Mike Trout and Mookie Betts now have a very specific thing in common, beyond being Southern California-based MLB stars.
In a repeat of Betts’ infamous foul-ball catch in Game 4 of the 2024 World Series, in which a pair of New York Yankees fans unceremoniously ripped a caught ball out of the Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star’s glove, Trout caught a foul ball against the Houston Astros on Saturday only for it be yanked out.
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Trout made the play at the wall in foul territory down the first-base line, with replay clearly showing the ball landing in his glove and the glove closing. It was only a split-second later when an Astros fan managed to pull out the ball.
The Astros fan appeared to offer the ball back before holding his hands up and playing innocent as first-base umpire Alan Porter stepped in. The umpires eventually ruled the play was a foul ball, unlike the Betts play where fan interference was called at Yankee Stadium.
The turn of events gave Astros catcher Yainer Diaz a reprieve with two outs in the bottom of the second inning, but Diaz wound up flying out to end the frame.
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While no fan interference was called, the fan in question was seen being escorted out of the stadium.
Astros fans explains what happened on Mike Trout play
That fan did have enough time while being ejected to speak with The Athletic’s Sam Blum. Identifying himself as Jared Whalen, he expressed contrition and said he tried to catch the ball because it was going toward his son’s face:
“I just didn’t know what was going on,” the Astros fan, Jared Whalen, told The Athletic from the Daikin Park concourse while flanked by security. “I didn’t realize it was a play, it was coming at my son’s face. I just reached out.”
“I was more looking at the ball coming for my son’s face,” Whalen said. “I made sure I wasn’t in the field of play … I apologized, and (Trout) nodded his head and we’re good, I think.”
That reaction is fairly different from the aftermath of the Betts incident.
As many baseball fans will remember, that play transformed into a larger debate about player safety. In that case, MLB requested the Yankees ban the two fans from Game 5 of the World Series, and the pair was banned from all ballparks indefinitely months later.
When asked for his thoughts on those fans in December, Betts didn’t hold back:
“I would really say, ‘F*** you, guys,'” Betts replied when asked what he would say to those fans now. “I get them trying to get the ball. Cool. But, like, you tried to grab my s***.
“I was in the moment,” he added. “So I thought about throwing a ball at ’em. And then I realized, ‘Mook, you ain’t gonna do s***. Go back to right field.'”
We imagine Trout felt something similar, with the added frustration that the umpires sided against him. On the bright side, Trout entered Saturday tied for the MLB in home runs with six and added another two RBI with a single in the first inning.
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