On Sunday, August 7, 2022, in Minneapolis, the Toronto Blue Jays won victoriously over the Minnesota Twins on an overturned call in the 10th innings. Whit Merrifield was originally called out after sliding into the plate attempting to score the final game-winning run. However, the call was changed after Twins catcher Gary Sanchez was believed to have illegally interfered with Merrifield.
Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, exclaimed “It’s one of the worst moments I think we’ve seen of umpiring in any game I’ve ever been a part of in baseball, and I think it was pathetic what just played out,” as reported by ESPN. Baldelli was ejected for disputing the call, which made it the eighth time in his career he was thrown out of a game and the third time this season.
The call was verified after replay officials ruled that Sanchez did not establish a clear lane for Merrifield, whose right foot collided with Sanchez’s left leg as he slid into home plate.
“I saw Gary straddling home plate. So, I tried to just slide in to him straight in as best I could,” Merrifield said. “I know what the rule is. It was just a matter of whether they were going to call it or not,” as noted by Sportsnet.
Sanchez argued that he left a path. “He slid towards me. I’m just tagging him,” Sanchez explained. “I had the ball first. I think the line was open for him to slide to the side. He didn’t. It was a clean play.”
This was another example of the controversial slide rule, or plate-blocking rule, affecting a top game that would have ended the inning.
Here’s the related part of the plate-blocking rule:
The catcher is not permitted to block the runner’s path to the plate unless he is in possession of the ball, though blocking the path of the runner in a legitimate attempt to receive a throw is not considered a violation. The runner can be ruled safe if the umpire determines that the catcher violated this rule. But per a September 2014 memorandum to the rule, the runner may still be called out if he was clearly beaten by the throw. Backstops are not subject to this rule on force plays.
When receiving a throw, catchers will often provide a sliding lane into home plate for the runner to lower the possibility that they will be called for violating the rule.
Baldelli said, “For someone to step in, in that situation, and ultimately make a decision that that was blocking the plate, that’s beyond embarrassing for our game, … it’s completely unacceptable.”
The Blue Jays ended up beating the Twins, 3-2, in the 10th inning. The play that resulted in a game-winning RBI for CavanBiggio – scoring newly-acquired Blue Jay Whit Merrifield – became the talk of the town. The Blue Jays are rated as outsiders to win the World Series in the latest betting odds from Coral, and the controversial decision certainly helped that situation. This win puts them at 60-48, which means they hold the top AL wild card spot. The Blue Jays are now into single digits trailing the Yankees in the AL East, now behind by 9 1/2 games.
The loss for the Twins puts them at 57-51 on the season, which is still a good position to take first place in the AL Central. When looking at other teams, the White Sox and Guardians both won this past Sunday, which means the Twins’ lead is just one game over the Guardians with the White Sox literally only two games behind. And when considering the Twins for the 2022 World Series, it doesn’t look like there’s too much enthusiasm from the fans.
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