You probably won’t find Rule 5.09(c) in this baseball rulebook, but it is in the current one. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
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Last night’s game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays was delayed for 15 minutes while everyone on the field checked in with MLB honchos in New York for an interpretation of a rule that it seems that no one at Rogers Centre – umpires included – seemed to know*.
*That is not entirely accurate, as Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer claimed to not only know the rule (“Absolutely; I have seen this before,” he told Blue Jays sideline reporter Hazel May), but that the umpires handled it improperly as they waived Toronto off the field at the wrong time.
Here is a brief summary of what transpired. See if you can follow along: It’s the top of the seventh inning and the Red Sox trail 2-0. Second baseman Anthony Seigler singled to lead off the inning, and Connor Wong followed with a single of his own. Shortstop Nick Sogard then hit a liner to first, which was nabbed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who threw to second for an out. This is the first hinge point.
Double Play Or Force Out
If Guerrero caught the ball on the fly, his throw to second would have doubled off Seigler, and there would have been two outs and a runner on first. But since he trapped the ball, the throw to second was a force out of Wong, with Seigler moving to third on the play. Thus, there was just one out with runners on the corners. The scoreboard operator was apparently confused as well, as they put “2” in the “outs” column.
Go the 0:17 mark:
Ceddanne Rafaela batted next and hit a soft fly ball to center. With one out, it would have been a sacrifice fly. But nearly everyone on the field acted as if there were two outs: Center fielder Brett Bateman lazily tossed the fall toward the infield; Seigler jogged down the third base line to home; and Wong loafed towards second base.
The Blue Jays finally figured it out, and threw to first to double off Wong, which was the tail end of the double play and the end of the inning. The Jays then walked off the field, feeling pretty good about maintaining their 2-0 lead. Except…
Seigler – unwittingly, it seems – crossed home plate before Toronto recorded the third out at first base (when Wong left without tagging up). Had the Blue Jays remained on the field, they could have appealed the play at third (because Seigler also left without tagging up) by tossing the ball to Charles McAdoo, who would have stepped on third base, essentially tripling-off Seigler for the fourth (!) out of the inning, and denying Boston their lone run.
However, since the team left the field (which, as stated above, Scherzer claims was encouraged by the umpires, but replay reviews shows was not the case), they lost the right to appeal the play, and thus the run was allowed to score. What took 15 long minutes to figure out was an interpretation of Rule 5.09(c), which reads:
“Any appeal under this rule must be made before the next pitch, or any play or attempted play. If the violation occurs during a play which ends a half-inning, the appeal must be made before the defensive team leaves the field . . . Appeal plays may require an umpire to recognize an apparent ‘fourth out.’”
According to MLB.com, the last time this happened was April 12, 2009, in a game between the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. And who was sitting in the dugout intensely watching that day at Chase Field? None other than then-Arizona pitcher Max Scherzer.