Stop, drop and ... challenge that ball? 'Just an average, everyday strike'

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It’s the old fall down and challenge play. Oldest trick in the book. Or, as Twins right-hander Andrew Morris said, “it’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.”

Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers caught a pitch from Morris on a double steal, tumbled to the ground, challenged the called ball … and won.

“Just a strike,” quipped Jeffers. “Just an average, everyday strike.”

Let’s set the stage. With no outs and men on first and second in the top of the fifth inning in the Twins' 5-3 loss, the Rays tried a double steal. Speed demon Chandler Simpson took off for third, with Logan Davidson the trail runner. Morris saw Simpson going just a smidge too late and went through with the pitch, as Jeffers was coming out of his crouch because he expected Morris to step off.

Morris had not stepped off.

“It felt like I saw him out of the corner of my eye and I had already just decided to go home,” Morris said. “And then when I look home, [Jeffers] is in the right-handed batter’s box. And then somehow …”

Somehow Jeffers not only caught the pitch -- behind him, mind you -- but challenged while on his behind on the ground. Successfully.

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“Both break early,” Jeffers said. “So I start drifting to like roll out, and then I’m assuming the next move I’m going to see is [Morris] step off. And he lifts his leg, so I’m like, ‘Oh [no].’

“I’m way too close to the batter. … So I kind of like catch it on like a dive back, because I’m like, if he swings, I’ve got to make sure I’m out of the way.”

And as for the challenge, did Jeffers feel confident? Did he have a good look? Well…

“No, not at all,” he said. “But from where I caught it, going back over the plate, and the fact that they’re never going to call that a strike, [I decided to challenge]. There’s no chance he’s going to call that a strike.”