ARLINGTON, Texas _ Credit Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell with a glove assist. Or, technically, a four-base error.
Texas Rangers outfielder Nick Solak received an unexpected gift during Sunday's game when Adell misjudged a fly ball in deep right field in the fifth inning. The ball bounced off Adell's glove and over the fence, giving Solak what appeared to be his first home run of the season.
Upon review, though, the official scoring is a four-base error. Scorer Lary Bump consulted with the Elias Sports Bureau and was told four-base errors are "unusual but not unprecedented." So Bump made a judgment call in ruling it an error with the belief that it would have been an error under any other circumstance.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said the team would likely appeal the ruling to get it changed to a home run.
Regardless, the play gave the Rangers a 6-2 lead through five innings. Texas ended up winning the game 7-3, completing a three-game sweep of the Angels.
Adell, the Angels' top prospect who got turned around and made a last-second attempt to catch the ball on the warning track, put his hands on his head in disbelief as Solak circled the bases. Angels pitcher Mike Mayers was charged with an unearned run and taken out after the play.
The Rangers aren't strangers to bizarre plays that result in fly balls being aided over the fence. In 1993, then-Rangers outfielder Jose Canseco had a ball bounce off his head and over the fence on what should have been a fly out by the Indians' Carlos Martinez. That play was scored a home run.
