Baltimore Orioles left fielder Heston Kjerstad lost track of a fly ball during Friday night's game in Kansas City.
It happened in the bottom of the first inning with Royals runner Bobby Witt Jr. on first and two outs with the game scoreless. Royals batter Salvador Perez hit a high fly ball deep to left field. Kjerstad appeared to be tracking it just in front of the warning track. However, as he drifted towards center field, he suddenly stopped and took his eyes off the ball to look at center fielder Cedric Mullins, apparently thinking that they were about to collide with each other.
Kjerstad quickly tried to recover, but it was too late as the ball dropped to the ground about 5 feet away for a hit. Witt, who was running on the pitch since there were two outs, came all the way around to score and give the Royals an early 1-0 lead. Perez made it to second and was credited with a double.
This ball had a 99% catch probability.
— The WARmonger (@TheWARmonger_) April 5, 2025
Heston Kjerstad had -11.7 feet of jump (😬), then took a circuitous route at 18.1 f/os to get to the general area of where this Salvador Perez "double" finally left a crater. pic.twitter.com/FNfZttVsyh
Just goes to show that even the pro baseball players misplay a fly ball every once in a while. Kjerstad is not the first and he won't be the last.
To his credit, Kjerstad quickly made up for his outfield mishap in the top of the next inning by hitting an RBI single and coming around to score on an error, giving the Orioles a 2-1 lead. Kjerstad went 2-for-3 at the plate, but unfortunately it wasn't enough as the Royals would come from behind to win the game 8-2.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
