SAN DIEGO -- The Padres’ David Peralta lined out to D-backs left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to end the first inning on Monday night.
It wasn’t the best catch of the at-bat -- or even second best.
Gurriel was outdone by Jaxen Trinidad and Stephen Schumack -- a pair of fans seated in the terrace level up the third-base line at Petco Park. The two fans made a pair of incredible grabs, one after the other, during Peralta’s first-inning at-bat against his former team. No gloves necessary -- just a barehand for the first and a hat for the second.
On the first pitch of the at-bat, Peralta sprayed a foul ball to the second deck, where Trinidad leapt and went full-extension to make an all-out catch with his bare right hand. A San Diego native who spent the year teaching kindergarten in Hawaii, Trinidad was at his first Padres game of the season -- and keeping score for the first time, too. He managed to make the grab while holding his pen and scorebook in his left hand.
“My first game back, so we were really lucky,” Trinidad said.
Two pitches later, with the count 0-2, Peralta hit another foul ball one section over, where Schumack stuck his baseball cap over the railing to corral the baseball. Schumack had only just arrived in his seat.
“As soon as he hit it, I knew it was coming,” Schumack said. “But it was low, so I was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to throw my hat down there.’”
Which catch was better? You be the judge.
Either way Wil Myers was definitely onto something.