Baseball player caught out by sly fan

A baseball player has learned a valuable lesson about focus after being caught out by a sly fan during a match in Major League Baseball in the US.

Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler was in the perfect position to take an easy catch against the Tampa Bay Rays when he, along with three of his teammates, converged on a high pop-up ball at the bottom of the third innings.

But at the last second, Kinsler, who called for the catch, bizarrely took his glove away and the ball bounced harmlessly between the players.

And while a teammate grabbed the rebound, Kinsler looked across his shoulder as if he got another call - a thought that wasn't far off the mark.

Unfortunately, the source of confusion was coming from the stands", Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told MLive.com.

Someone in the stands was yelling, 'I got it!'

"That's why Kinsler went out acting like he had it and then he heard someone say, 'I got it!'; so he backed off.

We had to change our signals. It was the Rays fans causing confusion.

The embarrassing episode was compounded with the Tigers losing by the odd run in an 8-7 thriller.