Adrian Beltre falls victim to the fickle impulses of a baseball, misses a bouncing hit

In the top of the fifth inning of Tuesday's Rangers game, Adrian Beltre ran forward to field a bouncing hit from Mariners right fielder Justin Ruggiano. He seemed prepared to make a barehanded catch and throw to first -- a difficult move, but certainly within Beltre's repertoire.

And then the baseball decided that, actually, it'd rather enjoy the airspace just slightly to Beltre's right, making a hairpin pivot around the third baseman.

At first glance, it looks like Beltre misjudged the ball's path and simply ran right past it. But Beltre has been playing third base for 18 years; he's won four Gold Glove Awards and his fielding percentage ranks in the top 10 among active third basemen. This wasn't an error (and it wasn't scored as such) -- this was a case of the ball changing its mind at the last millisecond.

Don't worry, Beltre. You can't control the whims of a baseball -- and Felix Hernandez sympathizes:

Stupid, fickle baseballs.