ST. PETERSBURG — A Spencer Jones popup that struck the B-ring catwalk at Tropicana Field hung in the air for 10 seconds Monday night before Rays outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. squeezed it for the out, turning one of baseball’s stranger ground rules into a second-inning highlight in ALDS Game 2 against the New York Yankees.
Four Rays converged on a spot in shallow right-center field and waited as the ball, deflected off the underside of the roof structure, finally descended. Mesa kept his composure and made the catch. Yankees manager Aaron Boone came out to contest the call, but the rule left no room for argument.
The Rays’ official ground rules spell out the catwalk system in full: “The four catwalks located above the playing surface at Tropicana Field are labeled the A-, B-, C- and D-rings, with the lowest being the D-ring.” Because Jones’ ball struck the B-ring — one of the upper two — it remained live. “A fair ball that hits one of the top two catwalks (A, B) is in play,” the team’s rules state. Had the ball landed on and stayed atop one of those upper rings, it would have been a ground-rule double. A strike lower, and the outcome changes entirely: “Any fair ball that hits the lower two catwalks (C, D) is a home run.”
The Trop’s quirky roof rules also cover foul territory: “A foul ball that hits one of the catwalks is a dead ball.”
The play arrived just two days after a similar stadium-roof moment shaped another Division Series game. In Milwaukee, Ty France’s drive to left struck the closed roof of American Family Field on Saturday night and deflected directly into the glove of Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio for the second out of the ninth inning, helping Milwaukee take Game 1 against the Padres.
Game 3 of the Rays-Yankees ALDS shifts to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, where the roof — and its catwalks — will not be a factor.