You’ve never seen a ‘bat flip’ quite like this before

SEATTLE — Max Kepler put a literal “flip” in “bat flip” and a literal “trip” in “trip around the bases.” Fortunately for each the Twins and their proper fielder, he might chortle about it afterwards.

After Kepler roped a line drive into the right-field nook throughout the fourth inning of the Twins’ sequence opener towards the Mariners on Monday, he dropped the bat, as any hitter does — but it surely turned out he didn’t fairly fling it far sufficient away. It fell at Kepler’s ft, the place his legs bought tousled within the lumber, leading to a giant faceplant just a few steps out of the field.

Kepler recovered in time to get to his ft, and he noticed that Seattle proper fielder Jarred Kelenic was nonetheless far sufficient from the ball that he might make the flip round first base and slide into second base for a double.

And clearly, he discovered it extra humorous than he did embarrassing, as a result of he couldn’t cover the smile that broke out throughout his face as he seemed up and towards his teammates within the dugout. Luckily for Kepler, they gave the impression to be extra centered on celebrating the leadoff double than teasing him for the … acrobatic route he took to second base.

There was no hiding for Kepler when the T-Mobile Park crowd noticed the replay on the video board and burst out in laughter — however, hey, he was already on second base at that time, and elegance factors don’t depend further in baseball.