Hosmer drops the final out while celebrating catching the final out (MISTAKES WERE MADE)
What Happened
In a June 2019 game at San Diego, the Padres led the Brewers by a run with Milwaukee threatening late, tying run on second and Christian Yelich aboard at first. Craig Stammen got the catcher to chop a grounder back to the mound area, and Padres catcher Francisco Mejia fired across to nab the lead runner. Eric Hosmer set up to catch the throw, started celebrating the apparent game-ending out, and dropped the ball. The Padres survived anyway because Stammen retired the next hitter to actually close it out.
Why This Matters
Here's the thing about a play like this: the celebration jumped the gun. Hosmer treated the throw as the final out before securing it, and an out isn't an out until the fielder controls the ball through the transfer. Drop it mid-celebration and the runner is safe, which in a one-run game with the tying run already on second could have flipped the entire ending. Mejia, all of 23 and fresh off his first home run of the season earlier that night, made a clean throw and got nothing for it on that pitch. The save here belongs to Stammen, who just got the next guy out and erased the whole thing. No harm done, but it's the kind of close call that bites you in October. The teammate ribbing afterward, with Tatis bouncing around in the background, tells you how close it came.
At 1.3M views this one ranks 209th of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, landing in the top 13% of the whole catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Eric Hosmer, Christian Yelich, Craig Stammen. Teams: Padres, Brewers.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentWe had a fun little moment here, San Diego versus Milwaukee. One run difference
here, and the Brewers are threatening. They have the tying run on second base, and
Yelich bronze on first. Stammen's trying to get the job done. He needs two outs,
and the catcher grounds out to the catcher. Mejia picks it up, fires the third
to get the lead runner. Man, he fires it across. Hosmer thinks he caught it,
and the game, he did not. Take another look at that play again. It's really
nice by Mejia, the catcher for the Padres. I think that's who it is, Mejia.
At 23 years old, hit a home run in this game, first of the season.
Really good throw to get the lead runner. And then Machado's thinking, well, I got
the arm. Might as well. Are you kidding me, man? Would have been a real
cool way to end the game. Would have been a nice play I started. Man,
he's like, come on, Hos. It was right there. I know. I don't know what
happened. Must be my fucking glove. Yeah, I think my glove, it's too loose. Let
me tighten this bad boy up. Yeah, oh, fixed. All good. Here's the play again.
Man, he's like, well, I got the arm strength. Like, throws a rock at Hosmer's.
Yeah! Tatis in the background celebrating. Nope. Had to go. But it didn't
matter because Stammen gets the job done. Game over. No harm. No foul. Three more
pitches or four more pitches, whatever it was. They're excited. Mejia's pumped. He had his
first homer of the season. So Tatis is going to beat him up a little
bit. Stammen's saying, good job, boys. Good job. Don't even worry about that. Good job.
Tatis is like, I'm going to kick your ass. You hit a home run. And
then Hosmer comes down the line. And Mejia looks at him like, come on, dude.
What the hell? You couldn't just catch that ball?