GIFs: Robin Ventura catches Flowers after tumbling over rail

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Tyler Flowers is normally supposed to be the catcher while Robin Ventura is stationed in the dugout, but at one point during Friday's game, the roles were reversed.

In the bottom of the fourth inning against Houston, Flowers hustled towards the White Sox dugout — not really realizing how close he was getting to it — in an effort to field a pop fly.

After coming a few inches away from making the grab, the White Sox catcher tumbled head-first over the railing.

And if it weren't for his manager, it may not have ended well for Flowers.

Ventura, who won six Gold Gloves as a player, displayed his defensive skills by bear-hugging his catcher upside down before he could hit the deck.

Impressive strength by Ventura, who not only prevented Flowers from falling even further, but slowly lifted him back up with the help of his staff and players.

Luckily for the White Sox, Flowers was uninjured on the play and remained in the game.

But they didn't go away completely unscathed.

Ventura went to the trainer's room following the White Sox win on Friday night, and came out with a big bag of ice on his back.

"He’s heavy, and it doesn’t feel very good," Ventura said of Flowers. "I think I might have saved his life. He better at least think so."

[MORE: Geovany Soto's two-run double in 11th lifts White Sox]

Flowers, on the other hand, admitted he's feeling much better than if his manager wasn't there to prevent a hard landing.

"Definitely saved me from some more pain," Flowers said. "I was expecting, once my feet left underneath me, I figured I was going down. It’d be tough to catch me and also trying to dodge the ball, a lot of things going on there."

Here's what went through his mind as the play developed:

I knew it was coming. The problem here is the roof is whitish and (Evan Gattis) hit it about as high as you could without hitting the roof. It took me a minute to find it so I didn’t want to take my eye off it with the whitish roof. But the last thing you want on a pop up like that is alligator arm it. So I was committed and probably two steps before I hit the rail I was like ‘I’m going through this all the way’ even though I knew I was going to be close. It just got there quicker than I thought.

Although he didn't make the catch, at least Flowers will always know Ventura will catch him when he falls.

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