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Detroit Tigers explain 'unfortunate' blooper-reel home run

A day later, neither player copped to taking even the slightest peek. Niko Goodrum doesn’t watch television, he said. He subscribes to Apple TV and only watches movies. Brandon Dixon doesn’t have cable, he said. “If it’s not on Netflix, I’m not going to see it,” Dixon said. Perhaps one day, when Netflix commissions a team of producers and directors to compile a Major League Baseball blooper reel, then Dixon will finally get a glimpse of what will go down as the defining play of the Tigers’ 2019 season . In the top of the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s 11-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners , Goodrum – mostly an infielder playing center field – and Dixon – usually a first baseman playing left field – collided on the warning track in left-center field. On the play, Kyle Seager’s deep fly ball went into Goodrum’s glove, out upon contact, and then over the fence for a two-run home run, Seager's third homer of the night. The game was likely already out of reach, with the Tigers down three runs. But the play will live on as the partly embarrassing, partly comical and partly understanding folly of the season. In one corner of the Tigers clubhouse at Comerica Park, Goodrum spoke in few words, saying, simply, “I play hard. That’s the only way I play, and that’s what happens, so.” Asked if it was a learning moment, Goodrum said no. “I play one way and that’s just, I play hard, man,” he said. “We have different people in different positions and they haven’t played together, and as you play more and more with people, you start to learn that this person likes to do this – he can go this way, he can go that way, he can do this – and we don’t get the chance to do that, so I just go out and play hard.” In speaking with three parties – manager Ron Gardenhire included – the verdict on the play is this: Both players did the right thing, getting in position to field not only Seager’s fly ball, but also a Dan Vogelbach fly ball in the top of the sixth. On Vogelbach’s ball, the pair avoided a collision, but Dixon felt Goodrum sprinting his way from center field and missed the ball. The play was the most pivotal of the loss: Left-hander Matthew Boyd allowed five runs in the inning after the miscommunication. But, on the most memorable of those two plays, there was no communication. “It was a thing where it was just, I felt like that was my ball,” Goodrum said. “So I felt that. When you’re full speed like that and calling the ball, you can’t really hear it any way, but you’re running full speed. So it’s just one of those things that happened.” Traditionally, the center fielder is the captain of the outfield, and receives priority in calling off the corner outfielders. Given the inexperience of the players in their positions – both Goodrum and Dixon were playing in their eighth games of the season at their respective positions, and were alongside each other in the outfield for the first time – perhaps with more experience, Dixon would have peeled out of the way. “It’s unfortunate,” Dixon said. “Two guys trying to make plays, we didn’t really communicate well and the first one fell and then, the second one, we had the collision. “That was a tough one because it’s just like, that’s a play that both of us, you don’t call it really because you don’t know if you’re going to get there and we both kind of got there at the same time.” “It was just a communication error, simple as that. There’s no excuse or anything, besides that we didn’t communicate well.” That the Tigers were forced to play Goodrum and Dixon together in the outfield is another result of this season’s unusually-cruel rash of injuries – center fielder JaCoby Jones was recently ruled out for the season with a fractured left wrist . By the time Gardenhire spoke with reporters, he considered the issue handled. “That happens when you play 100 however many games we play,” Gardenhire said. “I promise you there’s going to be nights like that and there’s going to be plays like that. “(Goodrum) is trying to make a play. Dixon is trying to make a play. But we gotta communicate. You can’t just run-run-run, you gotta look and see where the other guy is at.” And one day, maybe they will finally take a look at the low-light. “10 years from now, I don’t know,” Dixon said. “I think I’ll watch it, make fun of myself, but in the moment, it’s not something you want to be a part of, for sure.” Contact Anthony Fenech at afenech@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech . Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter .