Old Switcharoo: Dodgers fan caught on camera pretending to throw back Machado home run

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A Dodgers fan tried to pull a fast one with the crowd during Sunday's night game against the San Diego Padres. But he's now admitting he was caught red-handed!

In the fourth inning, Padres third baseman Manny Machado hit a home run to left center - where the ball was caught by a Dodgers fan.

Some baseball enthusiasts live by the unwritten rule that if you catch a home run by the visiting team, you're supposed to throw it back onto the field and not hold onto it as a souvenir.

The fan wearing a Dodgers hoodie tried to fool his fellow fans around him in the stands into thinking that's what he did.

He caught the ball, then swiftly brought his hand down into his jacket, came out with a ball and threw it onto the field. But TV cameras showed Machado's actual home run ball still in his glove.

The fan later confessed in an interview that he pulled a decoy ball out of his jacket pocket to throw back - pulling the old switcharoo.

"I got caught. Every ball hawk knows to come prepared for a reason like this," the fan said. "If a hated Padre hits a home run and you don't throw it back, you'll get booed mercilessly by the Dodger faithful...It could happen so I was ready."

The Dodgers lost to the Padres 6-3 and host the Nationals Monday.