Siri robbed a former teammate of a potential grand slam and saved the buffet on the sidelines.

At Tropicana Field in Tampa, Jose Siri spared the buffet beyond the left-field wall, yet the Los Angeles Angels ultimately lost 2-5 to the Rays.

After Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz gave up three walks and two singles in the third inning, the team brought in Mitch Farris. Farris took over with the bases loaded and one out, with the Angels already trailing 1-3, as Jonathan Aranda and Richie Palacios had already scored that inning.

Farris struck out Hunter Feduccia, then Taylor Walls took a mighty swing at Farris’s first pitch—a 91.4 mph four-seam fastball right down the middle. According to Statcast, the ball traveled 330 feet toward left field, looking like a sure grand slam.

The ball had a launch angle of 46 degrees and stayed in the air for 6.5 seconds. Siri sprinted back to the wall, reached over the fence, and snatched it back, robbing Walls of what would have been his first home run of the entire season.

“That’s how I always play,” Siri said in Spanish. “I’m good on defense. I just try to do my job in the outfield and at the plate.”

After making the catch, Siri shrugged at his teammates, jogged toward the dugout, and tipped his cap to the crowd. Siri played for the Rays from 2022 to 2024, making this incredible grab against his former team.

Talking about his teammates’ reactions, Siri said, “They were all happy, congratulating me, saying it was an amazing defensive play. It feels good to be back here. I had a great time, and a lot of fans showed me love—they were happy to see me.”

Walls hasn’t hit any home runs this season, and this wouldn’t have been his first grand slam—the shortstop did hit one against the Yankees in 2023.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew I got it, but I also knew it was too high,” Walls said. “Honestly, I thought it might just reach the warning track. But as it kept carrying, when I saw him go back to the wall, I thought, ‘Damn, this might go out.’ And then he robbed it. I was like, ‘Bro, are you kidding me?’”

He added, “I mean, if I already had nine or ten homers, fine, take one away. But I don’t have any yet. Let me have this one, man.”

Siri also contributed on offense. In the top of the second, he softly singled to right field, then advanced to third on Logan O’Hoppe’s line-drive double to left, and scored on a wild pitch by Shane McClanahan.

Wade Meckler, who hit a grand slam yesterday, pinch-hit for Siri in the seventh. Siri had struck out in the fourth, finishing 1-for-2. After Meckler grounded out, O’Hoppe hit a solo homer in the seventh to cut the deficit to 2-3.

That’s when Siri realized he had saved more than just runs.

“I didn’t see the food until after I was taken out,” Siri said. “I saw some chicken tenders—they looked really good—and I saved them.”

This season, Siri has a .333/.368/.611 slash line over 18 at-bats, with six hits, six runs scored, and two home runs. The Angels signed him to a minor league contract on February 11, and called him up from the Salt Lake Bees on May 16.

Today, Siri not only saved four runs for the Angels but also rescued those chicken tenders.

“I thought that was awesome,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “That was a huge defensive play. If it becomes four runs, the score goes to 7-1, and it’s a lot tougher for us. So I think that was the key moment of the game.”