Josh Naylor turned a routine play at the plate into the moment everybody noticed at Comerica Park on Saturday, throwing his sliding glove into Dillon Dingler as he lunged home in the third inning. The call stood after video review, and the Tigers went on to lose 4-0 to the Mariners.
The play came after Josh Naylor and Julio Rodriguez opened the inning with two-out singles off Tigers starter Keider Montero, then Randy Arozarena followed with a double that let Rodriguez score easily from second. Wenceel Perez and Gleyber Torres combined on the relay to Dingler at the plate, where the catcher tried to field the throw and apply the tag as Naylor came in head first.
Dingler said he did not see the glove in real time and only understood what happened after someone showed him the video on the iPad in the dugout. He said he missed the tag, too, and added that he did not put himself in the best position. “I didn’t see that,” he said. “I didn’t know what happened in real time. I didn’t see it until someone brought it up on the iPad in the dugout.”
Naylor, who was carrying the sliding glove in his right hand as he started his slide, said he forgot about it while running the bases and did not expect Arozarena to swing at the first pitch. “I really didn’t expect Randy to swing at the first pitch. And then I forgot about it as I was running the bases,” he said. “Then I noticed I had it on the video and it just flew. I felt really bad. I just totally blanked on it.”
Hinch said he did not see the glove throw live, but the replay showed the guard going. He said the crew checked whether Dingler tagged Naylor’s hand on the way home and concluded the catcher had the ball in front of the plate before the safe call was upheld. That left the oddest part of the play unresolved: whether the glove changed the outcome, or whether Dingler simply missed his chance to make the tag even without it.
The moment fit a pattern Tigers people know well. Before Saturday, Naylor had already bothered Detroit when he wore a Cleveland Guardians uniform and over the last two seasons with the Mariners. Colt Keith, who has seen him from the other side, called him the kind of player you like if he is on your team and hate if he is not, saying he has seen “questionable, borderline dirty baseball stuff” but also that he plays hard. Dingler agreed with that part of the description. “He plays the game hard,” he said. “He’s a good player and he plays the game hard.”
No further discipline or league action was announced, and that may be the last clean answer for now. The safe call is on the books, the glove throw is on video, and the only thing missing is certainty about whether the glove actually changed a tag that Dingler says he missed anyway.
