What the hell was that last night?
If you missed the game, the Red Sox and Blue Jays game in Toronto on Monday had a ruling that….well, I’m not sure any of us have ever seen.
Let’s set the scene first. Boston had runners on the corners with one out. Ceddanne Rafaela hits a ball to center that would’ve been deep enough to score Anthony Siegler on a sac fly.
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That is… if Siegler (and Nick Sogard as the runner at first) knew how many outs there were in the frame.
Apparently, the scoreboard at the SkyDome (I’m dead naming it, you can’t stop me) displayed two outs. The confusion stemmed from the previous play, where Vlad Guerrero Jr. fielded a screamer right at him at first before firing to the base for a force out; the ball hit the ground, but my guess is that there was some confusion in the moment about whether or not it was a double play.
Regardless, all you need to know is that Siegler and Sogard did not know how many outs there were. That led to what looked to be a double play.
Side note before we get into the meat and potatoes here: I don’t care what the scoreboard says, it is inexcusable for a baserunner in that situation to forget how many outs there were. Shame on the base coaches, too. I know the Blue Jays thought there were two outs as well—and I don’t care. That’s bad, bad baseball. I digress.
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You think it’s just a simple matter of dumb baserunning, a boneheaded play that robs the Sox of a run, end of the inning, right?
Wrong. Let Chris Guccione explain at the 1:20 mark below.
In case that video doesn’t load, here’s the explanation for what was being reviewed. Toronto made the third out at first base after Sogard didn’t tag up, but that out was made after Siegler crossed home. This then became a matter of timing and appealing, raising what is known as the fourth out rule.
Now, I dunno about you, but I had zero clue about this rule after watching baseball for as long as I can remember. Let Wikipedia explain, since this is the most plain English and succinct explanation that I could find.
In baseball, a fourth out is a legal out made by the defense after three outs in a half-inning have already been made. According to the rules, the third out does not cause the ball to become dead; if the fielders make a subsequent out that prevents a run from scoring, this out will supersede the apparent third out, thus becoming the recorded third out. The defense successfully makes an appeal while the ball is still live, and the umpire calls a temporary fourth out that (usually) replaces the existing third out.
TLDR: the defense can essentially appeal on the field to “change” the third out in order to prevent a run from scoring by making that appealed out the actual end of the inning……I think.
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So for our purposes, the part that’s important is the appeal. Toronto wanted that third out to be appealed in order to complete the double play without the run scoring. Leaving the bag early on a fly ball is an appeal play; both Siegler and Sogard leaving early fell under that category of out, if you will. Toronto had to make an appeal to get that third out, one way or another. But the Blue Jays could’ve appealed to the out at third—Siegler leaving early—as their so-called “fourth out” in order to prevent the run from scoring, even if Siegler didn’t properly tag up.
I hope I’m making sense here, folks.
However, the Blue Jays all left the field. Remember how everyone on Toronto thought the fly ball to center was the third out, too? Per MLB rule 5.09(c)(4), that appeal for a fourth out has to happen while the defending team is on the field—more specifically, they have to be within fair territory. The Blue Jays were, indeed, not within fair territory, so they couldn’t appeal for the fourth out at third.
So if Toronto couldn’t make that appeal, the out at third stands to maintain the double play. Since that third out stands, the run also stands since Siegler crossed the plate before Sogard was out at first.
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Final ruling: double play is confirmed, but Boston gets a run.
Just when you think you’ve seen everything in this sport, man. Baseball never fails to amaze you. I want to know, and I want you to be honest with me: Had you ever heard of the fourth out rule before last night? I sure hadn’t. Let me know in the comments below.
Another quick note on this: If it was Chad Tracy who made that (funny enough) appeal to point out the fourth out appeal rule, then huge kudos to him. I don’t know how many skippers would’ve made that call.
Not that this matters, though, since the Sox still lost. Baseball’s a dumb game anyways. It’s an amazing game, and it’s also incredibly dumb. I think the fourth out rule is a perfect microcosm of that universal truth.
Read the full article here