Unfortunately, Hernandez’s fly ball hadn’t reached the wall. In fact, it didn’t even get to the warning track. In a desperate bid to recover, Ozuna tried to push off the wall, but his cleat got caught on the fence and he landed face-first on the warning track as the ball bounced over him for a ground-rule double.

“‘A’ for effort,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said,[1] helpfully adding that “gravity came into play,” and “we can’t dispute Newton’s laws.”[2]

Ozuna’s overzealous attempt to rob Hernandez of a home run was inspired by a similar play two years prior, when Ozuna earned bragging rights against his former teammate. On that occasion, Ozuna, then playing with the Marlins, climbed the outfield wall to steal a home run from Hernandez.

“It looked kind of the same,” Ozuna said. “I thought it was gone.”[3]

Here’s a look at that 2017 grab:

Since stealing that homer, Ozuna had taken advantage of every opportunity to remind Hernandez of the play. After listening to Ozuna gloat for the past two years, Hernandez had no mercy for the Cardinals left fielder after watching him fall face-first into the Busch Stadium dirt.

“Off the bat I knew I hit it well, but running down to first base, I started running hard, running down the line,” Hernandez said. “I see him climb up and I’m like, ‘I thought I hit it too high,’ and it brought me to a flashback to Miami two years ago. Then he faceplanted and I’m really glad it happened to him, because he deserves it. That’s my boy. I played with him, but he still reminds me every year of the play he made two years ago. It would’ve been better if it hit off his head when he fell down, but it’s still one of my favorite doubles of my career.”[4]

The Cardinals’ athletic training staff checked on Ozuna before he remained in the game for the remainder of the Cardinals’ 4-0 victory. Once it was clear that only Ozuna’s pride had been injured on the play, players in both dugouts were free to laugh. Former Cardinals reliever Joe Kelly, now with the Dodgers, and teammate Kenley Jansen were caught laughing on camera even as the next batter, Chris Taylor, was at the plate, and Jansen pulled his shirt up over his mouth to hide his smile.

“I was laughing too,” Ozuna said. “I was too aggressive.”[5]

“He’s going to be on the bloopers for the next 10 years,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I actually thought it was a homer off the bat and it kind of hung up there. Apparently, he did too.”[6]

Incredibly, Ozuna had made a similar play – minus the pratfall – less than a year earlier on June 21, 2018. On that occasion, he climbed the wall attempting to catch a fly ball off the bat of Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar, only to turn around and see the ball hit the base of the wall just a few feet to his left, allowing Aguilar to reach second base with a two-run double.

Take a look:

“I thought the ball was going out, and I went up to rob it, and I looked up and it was below me,” Ozuna said. “I saw the ball carrying, carrying, carrying, and then I got turned around … at the end it was a bad read.”[7]

Ozuna has not won any Gold Glove awards since 2017.

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] Rick Hummel, “Cards strong-arm LA,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 2019.

[2] Mark Saxon, “Marcell Ozuna’s now-famous gaffe came just as he started to feel better about his defense,” The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/917718/2019/04/10/marcell-ozunas-now-famous-gaffe-came-just-as-he-started-to-feel-better-about-his-defense/.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Cards strong-arm LA,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 2019.

[4] Matthew Moreno, “Dodgers React To Cardinals’ Marcell Ozuna Climbing Wall & Failing To Make Catch On Kiké Hernandez Double,” Dodger Blue, https://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-react-to-cardinals-marcell-ozuna-climbing-wall-failing-to-make-catch-on-kike-hernandez-double/2019/04/10/.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Cards strong-arm LA,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 2019.

[6] Jorge Castillo, “Dodgers can’t cash in any of 13 baserunners,” Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2019.

[7] Adrian Garro, “Marcell Ozuna climbed the wall pursuing a fly ball – but the ball didn’t make it that far,” Cut4 by MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/marcell-ozuna-climbs-wall-chasing-fly-ball-but-it-falls-well-short-c282315820.

The post Marcell Ozuna climbs the wall: April 9, 2019 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Lane’s father, Mike, was a professional drag racer in the National Hot Rod Association, and Lane spent his early summers traveling around the country, watching his father race.[1] For a while, he thought he might make his career at the track as well. Then he discovered baseball.

“I kind of figured out that was going to be a little bit too much adrenaline for me,” Thomas said. “Those guys are running some crazy times. They are going a quarter mile in like six seconds at 200-something miles per hour. I think I’m going to stick to having something fly at me.”[2]

A Knoxville native, Thomas committed to the University of Tennessee as a sophomore at Bearden High School, even before batting .410 with 17 homers and 40 RBIs his senior season. His plans to play for the Volunteers changed, however, when the Blue Jays drafted him in the fifth round of the 2014 draft.[3]

“He’s a sure-fire pro prospect, no question,” Bearden assistant coach Jack Tate said. “He has all the tools.”[4]

Thomas was assigned to Toronto’s High-A affiliate in Dunedin of the Florida State League to start the 2017 season. There, he hit .252 with four homers and 38 RBIs in 73 games before he was traded to the Cardinals for international signing bonus cap space.

Injuries limited Thomas to just nine games for the Cardinals’ Palm Beach affiliate that season, but in 2018 St. Louis assigned him to Double-A Springfield to open the season. In 100 games, he hit .260/.337/.487 with 21 homers and 67 RBIs. He played his final 32 games with Triple-A Memphis, batting .275 with six homers and 21 RBIs. It was the breakout season Thomas needed.

That November, the Cardinals added Thomas to the 40-man roster. After Harrison Bader and Tyler O’Neill both went down with injuries, the Cardinals promoted Thomas to the majors on April 17, 2019. He played two innings of the Cardinals’ 6-3 win over the Brewers but didn’t get to take an at-bat as the game ended with him standing in the on-deck circle.

Two days later, he wasn’t about to miss his opportunity.

The Mets led St. Louis 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Dexter Fowler hit a one-out double. After Mets reliever Seth Lugo struck out Kolten Wong, Schildt called upon Thomas to take his first major-league at-bat. Lugo challenged him with an outside fastball on the first pitch, then tried the same pitch again. Thomas proved a fast learner, hitting the second pitch over the top of the right-field wall.

“It was pretty surreal,” Thomas said. “It’s the stuff you dream about when I was a kid.”[5]

Initially, the play appeared to be a triple before the umpires viewed the replay and ruled that the ball had indeed hit the top of the wall and struck a sign behind the outfield wall before bouncing back into play.

“My heart was beating a little quick, so I don’t even remember what I was thinking,” Thomas said.[6]

The blast made him just the 10^th Cardinal in history to homer in his first major-league at-bat, joining Eddie Morgan (1936), Wally Moon (1954, story here), Keith McDonald (2000), Chris Richard (2000), Gene Stechschulte (2001), Hector Luna (2004), Adam Wainwright (2006), Mark Worrell (2008), and DeJong (2017).

After Thomas returned to the dugout, his teammates convinced him to give the Busch Stadium fans a curtain call.

“That was the coolest part – looking up and seeing everyone cheer,” Thomas said. “It was awesome. I don’t think it could have gone any better.”[7]

It also cut the Mets’ lead to 5-3. Yadier Molina scored in the eighth on a ground ball by Fowler to make the score 5-4, but in the ninth inning, New York’s Edwin Diaz retired Molina with runners on first and third to earn his seventh save of the season.

Thomas stayed on the shuttle between Memphis and St. Louis throughout the season, batting .316 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 44 plate appearances.

“I saw him a lot in my rehab starts last season,” said Wainwright, who was limited to just eight starts in 2018 due to an elbow injury. “He was one of the four guys I came back and reported that ‘these guys are big-league players.’ I think we’re going to see a lot of him.”[8]

Lane played parts of three seasons for St. Louis, batting .172 with five homers and 15 RBIs before he was traded to the Washington Nationals for pitcher Jon Lester ahead of the 2021 trade deadline.

Thomas played 424 games for the Nationals across four seasons, batting .257 with 60 homers, 205 RBIs, and 60 stolen bases before he was traded to Cleveland in 2024. In Cleveland, he hit .316 with two homers and nine RBIs in the ALDS, including a go-ahead grand slam in Game 5.

He signed a one-year contract with the Royals for of the 2026 season.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Drew Hill, “Outfielder Lane Thomas’ peculiar journey from NHRA to baseball,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 23, 2018.

[2] Drew Hill, “Outfielder Lane Thomas’ peculiar journey from NHRA to baseball,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 23, 2018.

[3] “Bearden’s Thomas named 1^st Team HS baseball All-American,” USA Today, June 25, 2014, https://usatodayhss.com/2014/beardens-thomas-named-1st-team-hs-baseball-all-american.

[4] Mike Blackerby, “Bearden’s Lane Thomas commits to play at Tennessee,” Knoxville News Sentinel, August 25, 2012.

[5] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals drop one,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 21, 2019.

[6] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals drop one,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 21, 2019.

[7] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals drop one,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 21, 2019.

[8] Rick Hummel, “Cardinals drop one,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 21, 2019.

The post Lane Thomas homers in his first MLB at-bat: April 19, 2019 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.