Shuck leaps over wall for amazing catch

ANAHEIM -- There was an Angel in the outfield Friday night at Angel Stadium, the kind worthy of silver screens and Gold Gloves.

With none out in top of the fourth, J.B. Shuck hovered high above the left-field wall to rob Jose Bautista of a home run on what instantly became a candidate for play of the year.

"I don't know if you're going to see a better play than that," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That was incredible."

Although the play received loud cheering when it happened at Angel Stadium, Shuck received another ovation a few moments later when the replay was shown on the video board.

"He hit it pretty high so I had time to get back to the wall," Shuck said after the Angels' 7-5 victory. "It started coming down, I knew I would have a chance at it and just jumped and tried to go get it. I don't really know what happened after that.

"I think I kind of landed on the backside of the wall and slid down it," Shuck said. "I went into the front row and I don't think I got any people or any seats. I think I got somebody's shirt, though. On the way out, my foot got caught on somebody's shirt, so hopefully I didn't rip it up."

While Shuck was climbing back onto the field, Maicer Izturis -- who led off the inning with a walk -- tagged up and advanced to second.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons and Scioscia came out to get clarification from the umpires after the catch. Because Shuck left the field of play, Izturis was awarded second base.

Izturis scored on the next at-bat when Edwin Encarnacion drove a single to left field. Angels starter Tommy Hanson escaped further damage in the inning when Adam Lind lined out to right field and catcher Chris Iannetta threw out Encarnacion at second on a stolen-base attempt.

"You don't play many baseball games where there's a catch like that," fellow Angels rookie outfielder Kole Calhoun, who went 4-for-5 with his first career home run, told the Los Angeles Times.