DETROIT — Liam Hendriks has a deal with Red Sox outfielders. If they make a spectacular play behind him while he’s pitching, he gives them an undisclosed gift.
Wednesday night was costly, then.
With Hendriks pitching in a tie game in the seventh inning, Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter smoked a deep fly ball to right-center at 104.8 mph off the bat. It looked like it had the chance to be the go-ahead homer, but right fielder Wilyer Abreu jumped up in an attempt to rob it and deflected it back into play, only for center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela to catch the rebound for the out.
The umpiring crew reviewed it and confirmed the once-in-a-lifetime 9-8 putout. From home, injured Red Sox starter Walker Buehler called it “the ole alley-oop robbery,” making an NBA comparison. Something akin to the NFL’s tip drill works, too.
“There’s two gifts in there for them,” Hendriks said.
The Red Sox were walked off again, 6-5, and were swept by the American League-leading Tigers to fall back under .500 after a taxing road trip. But even in dire times, there was a clear appreciation for an amazing play 371 feet away from home plate.
“That was special,” Hendriks said.
Clutch homers plagued the Red Sox for the entire series in Detroit and it looked, momentarily like Carpenter would have the latest. Hendriks, an AL Central veteran who was making his 14th career appearance at Comerica Park, thought it was gone off the bat. Then, the unexpected happen.
“I don’t think I’ve seen that …,” he said. “(My reaction was) ‘Thank God.’ It was a hell of catch. Off the bat, I was like, ‘Oh, crap.’ Then I saw Willy drifting back and thought maybe we had a chance. Didn’t think it was that chance.”
“You see these guys. Willy’s got a Gold Glove for a reason.”
Abreu and Rafaela are two of the elite outfielders at their positions but haven’t quite coordinated on a play like they did Wednesday. According to Abreu, the teamwork was — as one might expect — unintentional.
“The goal was to catch the ball, for sure,” he said through translator Daveson Perez. “I wasn’t able to, but I had Rafaela right there behind me. He’s always having my back on plays and was able to make that catch.
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“Just watching the ball all the way. Got close to the wall. Tried to make my best effort to catch it. I had Rafaela behind me. We were able to make the catch.”
Rafaela explained that he was in the right-center gap because he thought he had a chance to catch the Carpenter fly. He ended up stalling in the right place at the right time.
“I kind of knew where the ball was going to land,” Rafaela said. “I was trying to go for it, then I saw Willy was under the ball already. I was just being there if it hit the wall or something. I (saw) it pop and stuck my hand out.
It took Rafaela a few seconds to realize he had come up with the ball after bobbling it. He showed the umpiring crew to make sure the out was recorded.
“I was really surprised,” he said. “Those are plays that don’t happen every day but I think you have to be there for your teammates on every play. Those kind of things happen.”
Ultimately, the play mattered little in a crushing Red Sox loss. But it’s not one anyone who was on hand will soon forget, including the pitcher on the mound.
“The umpire told me, ‘Hey, you should keep that ball. Little bit of a lucky one,’” said Hendriks. “Took his advice, kept it and the next ball went to Trevor (Story) as well. The ball had some good juju in it for me.
“Any time you see plays like that, you hope it sparks something. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.”
