Ke'Bryan Hayes masterfully tricked Sean Manaea in order to dive back to first base without getting tagged

He played it off so cool.

There are few things more satisfying in baseball than seeing some gamesmanship play out to perfection. That’s exactly how Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes was able to turn a would-be, base-running blunder into a highlight.

In the second inning of Sunday’s game between the Pirates and Mets, Hayes hit a chopper to first base that forced pitcher Sean Manaea to cover the bag at first. The throw over, though, was a bit behind him. So, as Manaea reached to catch the throw, he somewhat lost track of where the bag was. He reached his foot out, but narrowly missed the bag.

But keep an eye on Hayes.

Ke'Bryan Hayes didn't realize he was safe so he had to hurry back to the base before Sean Manaea noticed pic.twitter.com/SrGx2WE1x0

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 7, 2024

Hayes was surprised to be called safe on the play, so he started to make his turn to second. That move made him a live baserunner — he either had to continue to second or get back to first without getting tagged. But instead of making an immediate dive back to first and draw Manaea’s attention, Hayes casually played it off like he wasn’t a live baserunner. And when Manaea wasn’t looking, Hayes made his dive back to first safely.

That was so nicely done, and Manaea immediately knew he messed up by letting Hayes get away with poor base running.

Manaea would get out of the inning without allowing a run, but MLB fans still enjoyed that crafty moment from Hayes.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

@KeBryanHayes https://t.co/WkXCqk1IdF

— Tanner Lawson (@tlaw1219) July 7, 2024

This is killing me cause he was trying so hard to sneak back lmao https://t.co/cYXImq8RJm

— ronnie (@ronnie_harter) July 7, 2024

I had coaches tell me that physical errors are going always to happen, but you can make sure that mental errors don’t. I feel like it’s pretty rare to see both in the same play from the same player. https://t.co/NjsgVB2Qg2

— Taylor Jenkins (@TJenkinsTampa) July 7, 2024

I was watching this live on mute and was so confused https://t.co/7URHH9vxiG

— Brandon Luckham (@BLuckyLuck) July 7, 2024

He not only gave up on the play, he just… Did not pay attention? Dude seems mentally checked out. https://t.co/3QvBs0pHsE

— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) July 7, 2024

I love plays like this https://t.co/upeQ7HIdrB

— Ziah (@TazH5_) July 7, 2024