Josh Donaldson commits costly baserunning blunder in Yankee playoff game after ball he hit bounces off top of wall

Does anyone know what Jeffrey Maier is up to?

The Yankees could have used the fan who stole Derek Jeter a home run in 1996. On Tuesday night during Game 1 of the Yankees’ Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, third baseman Josh Donaldson hit a ball to a very similar spot in right field. But instead of an overzealous kid reaching out and snagging it, the ball hit the top of the wall and caromed back into the field of play.

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Donaldson didn’t know any of that as the play was unfolding.

Neither did first base coach Travis Chapman, who gave Donaldson a high five as he rounded first. Both men were unaware that the umpire did not signal a home run and the play was still live. With his eyes toward the ground and already down shifted into a home run trot, Donaldson was thrown out between first and second for one of the most embarrassing outs in recent memory.

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It did look to the naked eye that the ball may have hit a fan in the right field seats, or gone over the wall and bounced back. But for neither Donaldson nor Chapman to look at the umpire there is inexcusable given the circumstances: the fifth inning of a tied playoff game.

“It’s a unique one down that line like that,” manager Aaron Boone assessed. “I thought it was a home run off the bat . . . I’m glad it didn’t end up hurting us.”

Luckily for the Yankees, they’d score on a Jose Trevino sacrifice fly later in the frame, though had Donaldson been paying attention enough to turn his well-struck ball into a double, they could have had a much bigger inning.

The Yankees closed their clubhouse after Tuesday’s game before any reporters had a chance to ask Donaldson about the play.