Mariners P Logan Gilbert accidentally catches line drive in his jersey, but doesn’t get the out

Logan Gilbert made a wild catch on Wednesday. Just with the wrong tool.

In the first inning of a game against the Athletics, the Seattle Mariners right-hander got a 107.8 mph comebacker off the bat of Carlos Cortes. The ball arrived before Gilbert could react and ended up nestled inside Gilbert’s jersey.

Much to the confusion of Gilbert.

So that’s a catch, right? Because the ball never hit the ground? Unfortunately, no.

From the official MLB rulebook, here’s the comment that addresses this exact situation:

A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession

So you can only use your hand or glove to catch the ball. Therefore, the play was ruled a single for Cortes, which loaded the bases with no outs.

That wound up being costly for Gilbert, who saw two runs score on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Soderstrom and RBI single from Jeff McNeil that also included a fielding error by center fielder Julio Rodríguez.

Gilbert finished his day with 4 innings pitched, 6 hits allowed, 3 runs (all earned), 2 walks and 3 strikeouts on 89 pitches.