Tim Beckham and Gary Sanchez combined to make what Twins manager Rocco Baldelli thought was a game-saving play in the 10th inning of their game against the Blue Jays on Sunday
Beckham caught a Cavan Biggio fly ball in shallow left field with one out and Whit Merrifield on third base. Merrifield tagged up and attempted to score, but Beckham's throw beat him to the plate. Sanchez applied the tag, home plate umpire Marty Foster signaled out and the Twins headed to the bottom of the inning tied.
Or so they thought.
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The Blue Jays asked for a review of the play, arguing that Sanchez had illegally blocked Merrifield's path to the plate. MLB's replay center in New York reviewed the play and agreed with the Blue Jays. Toronto was awarded the run for Sanchez's interference and took a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish.
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Baldelli was irate with the call. He was ejected for arguing, and he continued to rail against the "chickens—" call in his postgame news conference.
"That play has not been called since the beginning of replay more than a couple of times," Baldelli said. "In all of baseball, the thousands and thousands of games and plays at home where the catcher actually does block the plate over and over and over again, that play has virtually never been called.
"And 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."
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Baldelli was quick to point out that he wasn't blaming the umpires on the field. In fact, he praised them for making "the proper call" with their initial ruling. He took issue with the "completely unacceptable" way that the replay center interpreted the play.
I can't even believe I'm sitting here talking to you guys about this right now. 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.
MLB instituted a rule attempting to limit home-plate collisions in 2012. The change came after Giants catcher Buster Posey suffered a broken leg and torn ligaments in his ankle in a collision in 2011.
This is the catcher's portion of the rule, per MLB.com.
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 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. Likewise, runners can lower their chances of being called for a violation by sliding in the given lane.
"The ruling is that Gary violated the home-plate collision rule, and that the runner was safe," umpire crew chief Alan Porter told pool reporter Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune after the game. Porter was the first-base umpire Sunday.
Like Baldelli, Sanchez understood the rule but didn't believe that he had broken it when he tagged Merrifield.
"He had an open lane to slide on the side, and he didn't (slide there). He slid towards me," Sanchez said, per MLB.com. "I'm just tagging him. I had the ball first. I think the lane was open for him to slide to the side. He didn't. It was a clean play."
