I happened to be following the Rangers-Twins game online during the late innings yesterday when something most peculiar occurred.
The Twins were leading 6-4 in the top of the ninth, but the Rangers had the bases loaded. Vladimir Guerrero was at bat. Cristian Guzman was on third. Michael Young was on second, and David Murphy was on first. A hit would likely tie the game. Or so I thought.
photo credit: h.koppdelaney
In baseball and in general, sometimes you see something you’ve never seen before.
As such, I was completely baffled when the following text popped up on my screen: “Guerrero reached on an infield single, Guzman scored. Young out at third, Murphy to second.”
Huh?!? How could this be? No further explanation was provided at the time, and I was left to ponder what might’ve happened. Could Young have been forced out at third? No way. It would not have been scored as a base hit. Could Young have attempted to score but got caught in a rundown and tagged out at third after the run scored? That seemed to be the only other possibility.
In a way, that wasn’t too bad of a guess, but it still wasn’t quite right. It turns out that Young was called out on a controversial ruling by third-base umpire Alfonso Marquez. On a replay, it appeared that Young had briefly tapped hands with third-base coach Dave Anderson, so Marquez ruled out Young out due to coach’s interference.
I’ve never seen this call before. Crew chief Tim Tschida adamantly stated afterward that the rule is definitive about coach/player contact but also said that this was the second time he had seen this happen in three decades as an umpire.
The call kept the Rangers from a shot at having Nelson Cruz tie the game or take the lead with the bases loaded. Adding to the frustration was the fact that all parties agreed that the contact did not help Young beat the throw to third base. Still, rules are rules, and this was a great example of one that you might not see again for years.
