Giants-A's game inadvertently turns into chairs match

Tom Gatto

Giants-A's game inadvertently turns into chairs match image

The Giants rallied to tie the A's with two outs in the ninth inning Saturday night on a play that left people making wrestling jokes.

The setup: A's right fielder Stephen Piscotty was chasing a base hit that had rolled into the Giants' bullpen along the right field line when he ran into a chair being held by Giants reliever Mark Melancon. Piscotty appeared to stumble, and then he made a bad throw to home plate that allowed Alen Hanson to score the tying run.

Oakland argued unsuccessfully that Melancon interfered with Piscotty and Hanson should be placed on third base.

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A's manager Bob Melvin knows the hazards the on-field 'pens present.

MLB Rule 6.01(d) spells out the decision:

In case of unintentional interference with play by any person herein authorized to be on the playing field (except members of the team at bat who are participating in the game, or a base coach, any of whom interfere with a fielder attempting to field a batted or thrown ball; or an umpire) the ball is alive and in play. . . .

As all that was going on, the internet was having Saturday Nitro flashbacks.

The game later went to extra innings after the A's failed to score in the bottom of the ninth.

UPDATE: The A's won 4-3 in 11 and then grabbed the microphone to celebrate.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.