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Leonys Martin robs Nelson Cruz of home run with leaping catch, earns praise from him

Leonys Martin and Nelson Cruz were teammates for parts of three seasons between 2011-13. So when the Texas Rangers center fielder made a leaping catch to take away a home run from the Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Wednesday night, you can understand the respective reactions.

With the Rangers up 1-0 in the second inning, Cruz launched a drive deep to center that appeared headed for the Orioles bullpen. Martin reached for the wall at Camden Yards (not too far away from Mike Trout territory) with his right arm to brace himself. He then lifted himself up slightly to make the incredible grab. But that wasn't the best part of the moment. The various reactions from the key parties involved was. First, Martin looked like the cat that ate the canary. The 26-year-old Cuban couldn't believe what had just happened. Cruz's take was even more entertaining. He stood between first and second base following the out and smirked at Martin, as if to say, "Yeah … nice snag there, bub." His sense of humor was especially refreshing considering if the ball had gone over the fence, it would've been his major league-leading 27th big fly of 2014 (Cruz is currently tied with Chicago White Sox rookie Jose Abreu and Toronto Blue Jays star Edwin Encarnacion — who hit a fairly large homer Wednesday). But the most priceless reaction may have been authored by Texas pitcher Miles Mikolas. He was flat-out stunned. Cruz had the last laugh though as the O's eventually won 6-4.

Staying north

Moving to NBA free agency, Kyle Lowry agreed to a four-year, $48 million deal to remain with the Toronto Raptors. The guard had been a target of the Miami Heat and Houston Rockets.

Clever title

Finally in NFL news, Cleveland Browns tight end Jordan Cameron is now referring to himself as a "pass catcher" on Twitter in the wake of Jimmy Graham's arbitration case.

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