Didi caps Yanks' victory with catch off catwalk

ST. PETERSBURG -- The catwalks in Tropicana Field do not come into play often, but Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius was prepared anyway.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Monday, Tim Beckham skied a deep fly ball toward the top of the dome, sending Brett Gardner hustling toward the left-field line. Instead of dropping into Gardner's glove, though, the ball caromed off the B Ring catwalk.

As the ball plummeted toward the grass in shallow left field, Gregorius, who had played just two career games in Tropicana Field, positioned himself perfectly and made the catch to complete the Yankees' 11-5 victory over the Rays.

"It's something that everybody talks about," Gregorius said. "On high fly balls you have to try to stay with it. It ricocheted off the catwalk and I got right underneath it and caught it."

But while Gregorius never lost sight of the ball, the play got the best of Gardner, who had a harder time keeping track of the ball.

"I completely lost it for two or three seconds and then I saw it falling down," Gardner said. "I don't know why, but Didi was standing right there underneath it like he knew it was going to happen, so it was a great heads-up play on his part."