Tag: Baseball Man Falls Down

The Yankees’ Tommy Kahnle tripped on the dugout steps as benches cleared and MLB fans had jokes

The Yankees’ season in a nutshell.

The New York Yankees are stumbling into the offseason with a miserable 2023 campaign that general manager Brian Cashman called a disaster. They’re also stumbling into bench-clearing incidents.

While the Yankees lost Sunday’s series finale with the Rays, 7-4, the game itself had its share of fireworks. Yankees pitchers hit Rays batters with the pitch four times, and Randy Arozarena was especially furious to take a 3-1 fastball from Albert Abreu off the elbow guard. Arozarena acted like he was going to throw his bat, and then he turned towards Abreu to have some words with the Yankees reliever. Benches would clear, but the teams were eventually separated without incident.

Yet, Arozarena was clearly still heated about getting hit by the pitch. After he stole third in the inning (off a pitch that narrowly avoided hitting Harold Ramirez), Arozarena stared down Abreu as he went to retrieve his helmet. That led to Abreu shouting back at Arozarena, and benches cleared AGAIN.

Like the initial incident, the teams were separated before anything got out of hand. But the best moment came courtesy of Yankees pitcher Tommy Kahnle. As both teams came running from the dugout and onto the field, Kahnle got a late start from the clubhouse and took a tumble on the dugout steps.

For someone falling down on stairs, Kahnle played it off so smoothly.

I’m glad that was caught on camera because MLB fans had plenty of jokes for the wipeout.

Diamondbacks’ Kole Calhoun hit into a double play when he forgot to run to first after falling

Yikes.

Earlier on Sunday, the New York Mets basically handed the Pirates three runs when pitcher Taijuan Walker mistakenly tossed a fair ball away. It was the kind of mistake that you would expect from a last-place team like, well, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The D-backs hold the worst record in baseball, and they’re 40-plus games below .500 because they repeatedly forget how to baseball. A player like Kole Calhoun can make a great catch one inning and then completely botch simple base running moments later.

During Sunday’s game against the Cubs, Calhoun hit a grounder to first with one out and the bases loaded. As Anthony Rizzo threw home for the force out, Calhoun went down to duck and avoid the throw. And then, he just stopped playing …

Calhoun took a tumble as he ducked away from the throw, lost his helmet and went back to retrieve the helmet instead of running to first. He basically forgot to run to first as he collected himself after the fall. By the time he realized that he should be running to first, the Cubs turned the inning-ending double play.

You don’t see a bases-loaded opportunity end like that very often. Only the D-backs could make that happen.

https://youtu.be/pgHz7vbqMWw

Twins emergency center fielder Rob Refsnyder ran right into the wall while tracking a home run

That’ll leave a mark.

Amid the Twins’ extremely disappointing start to the 2021 season, they’ve also dealt with their share of injuries in the outfield. None more costly than center fielder Byron Buxton hitting the injured list earlier in the month with a strained hip.

In an effort to fill that void, the Twins have looked for journeyman utility player Rob Refsnyder to play center field and keep his hot hitting going. But it’s important to remember that Refsnyder is an infielder by trade and had only made a handful of outfield appearances in his career.

When you take that into account along with an unfamiliar ballpark in Baltimore, you get what happened during Monday’s game against the Orioles. Refsnyder ran right into a wall.

When Ryan Mountcastle (what a name!) launched a fly ball to straightaway center field in the fifth inning, Refsnyder was tracking the ball and didn’t seem to realize he was running out of room once he reached the warning track. He want hard into the wall and fell as the ball carried easily beyond the fence.

That’s a spot where you want your teammates to communicate whether or not you’re running out of room, but still, Refsnyder probably should have known how many steps he had left once he felt the warning track dirt.

Thankfully, Refsnyder was fine after the collision.

He’s still learning the nuances of center field, and there’s no batter way to learn about warning-track prep than running straight into a wall. So, there’s always a silver lining.

https://youtu.be/UxjnPPyOLD8