Angels Right Fielder Flips Over Wall to Secure 1-0 Win Over Mariners

Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell flipped over the right-field wall in the ninth inning to catch a drive by Seattle Mariners infielder J.P. Crawford, preserving a 1-0 victory. Adell had already made two earlier plays in the same area.

He backhanded a ball just over the yellow line off Cal Raleigh in the first inning and caught a similar drive by Josh Naylor in the eighth. Zach Neto had given the Angels the lead with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first. The score stayed 1-0 until the ninth, when Crawford sent a ball down the right-field line.

Adell approached the corner near the foul pole, reached his glove over the wall, and went over headfirst. He stood up in the stands still holding the ball. "An out-of-body experience is kind of the best way to describe it," Adell told ESPN.

He said he reached the wall early, knew he would land among fans, and leaned over once the ball passed fair by the foul pole. A photograph taken from behind by Kayleigh Kraus showed Adell standing on cracked concrete with his left arm raised while several fans patted his back.

"You don't really see it -- how the video captures it and how the photos capture it after -- and then you go back and look at it," Adell said.

"I'm just trying to win the game, and then when you come back and look at it, you, the fan, experience it, and people that are watching it, what they experience during the game, and it's kind of cool. " The game occurred as the number of position players age 38 and older continues to decline. Twenty years ago, 22 such players recorded at least one at-bat in a season.

Ten years ago the number fell to eight. This season only four players 38 or older have appeared at the plate. New York Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, 38, leads that group. He has hit 12 home runs in just over 200 plate appearances this season after hitting 10 in 534 plate appearances last year.

887 OPS of the other three players in the group: Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Santana and Tommy Pham. 300 this season. Goldschmidt has flirted with that mark while filling a larger role created by injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.

The top four teams by run differential are the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves. The gap between the Braves and the fifth-place Chicago Cubs stands at 76 runs. 500 record and the fourth-highest run total in the league.