Cooper Ingle’s boneheaded mistake cost Guardians a key run vs. Rangers originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Cooper Ingle is a catcher.
But the Cleveland Guardians wanted him in the batting lineup, and so they’ve got him playing in left field. On Tuesday night, that led to a nightmare moment for the rookie.
With the game tied 2-2 against the Texas Rangers, and a runner on second, Ingle caught a flyball to medium left.
Instead of throwing the ball into the infield, he tossed it into the stands.
That sent the Rangers’ runner home for a 3-2 lead.
Ingle had thought it was the third out, and he was giving a fan a souvenir.
This, though, wasn’t meant to be a souvenir at all:
Cooper Ingle just made the worst mistake that I’ve ever seen in an MLB game pic.twitter.com/s3CyLygWmf
— SleeperGuardians (@SleeperGuards) July 1, 2026
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In the video clip, you can see the infielders start to realize what was happening and get Ingle’s attention, but it was too late.
Ingle simply made a mistake that he surely won’t make again.
He was due up second in the bottom half of the inning and hit the ball hard, but he was robbed of a hit by a nice play up the middle.
If the Guardians end up losing by a run, it might be tough for Ingle to get a good night’s sleep.
He’ll be around a long time, and he’ll learn from this.
But on Tuesday, Ingle made an inexplicable mistake, and it was a costly one.
