The saying goes you see something new in every baseball game that’s played. On that note, we had a unique moment in Monday night’s matchup between the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the seventh inning, the Red Sox had runners on the corners with one out when center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela hit a fly ball to center field for the second out. However, many people involved in the play, including Blue Jays center fielder Brett Bateman, acted as if the inning was over.
Boston baserunner Anthony Seigler — who was on third base — ran home as if he was running on contact with two outs, with fellow baserunner Nick Sogard — who was on first base — going around the bases and many players going back to their respective dugouts. With this in mind, Toronto doubled up Sogard at first base, thinking it had an inning-ending double-play.
The catch? The center field scoreboard listed that there were two outs in the inning, creating confusion about how many outs there actually were. Moreover, right before Sogard caught the fly ball, the scoreboard changed to there being one out in the inning.
After a roughly 15-minute review, the Red Sox were given a run and the inning ended. Of course, had everybody known there was one out on the fly ball, Seigler would’ve had to tag up from third base to score.
So, that was something, huh?
“Both Boston runners, thinking there were two outs, just took off,” crew chief Chris Guccione told a pool reporter following the game, according to MLB.com. “When the second out was made, now we have two runners who have failed to return and tag up correctly. At that time, the guy from third had crossed home plate and the guy who was at first was standing at second. Toronto knew he hadn’t tagged up and threw to first base to make the third out. Well, that’s a time play, meaning it’s not a force play. If it’s a force play, the run does not score automatically.
“If it’s a time play — meaning, ‘Was the out made before or after the runner crossed home plate?’ In this case, the runner crossed before the appeal play was made [at first]. In this play, it’s what you call an apparent fourth out.”
In the end, though, the Blue Jays held on to get a 2-1 win. Their two runs came on a solo home run from third baseman Charles McAdoo in the bottom of the fifth and an RBI single from shortstop Andrés Giménez in the sixth.
In what was his debut start with the Blue Jays, right-hander Jameson Taillon was removed after four scoreless innings due to forearm discomfort. Taillon was relieved by Simeon Woods Richardson, who pitched three innings. The Blue Jays then got a pair of scoreless innings from Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland to close out the win.
The Red Sox (64-54) are in possession of the second American League wild-card seed, with the Blue Jays (57-63) 3.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the third AL wild-card seed. At the same time, Boston, which previously won 27 of 30 games, has lost three consecutive games, while Toronto has won four of its last six, which includes winning a three-game series on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies (64-56).
