Tag: Christian Vazquez

Christian Vazquez was stunned after his batting helmet narrowly saved him from a line drive to the face

Someone was looking out for him.

Every big-league stadium has different dimensions and spacing within foul territory. You have a stadium like Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which has a ridiculous amount of space in foul territory and an on-deck circle far from home plate.

The opposite is the case at Minnesota’s Target Field, and Christian Vazquez nearly paid the price on Wednesday.

With Twins infielder Donovan Solano at the plate in the third inning, Vazquez was taking cuts in the on-deck circle when a line drive foul off Solano’s bat went sailing right towards Vazquez’s face. The entire stadium gasped as they heard the connection, but to a huge relief: Vazquez was perfectly fine.

Replays would show that the ball caught the bill of Vazquez’s helmet, missing his face by mere centimeters. Even Vazquez seemed surprised to escape the ordeal unscathed as he checked the helmet and laughed off what could have been incredibly painful.

It’s almost surprising that we don’t see these incidents happen more often, particularly at Target Field, which has an on-deck circle close to home plate. Though players do like to stand closer to the plate while on deck to time up the pitcher, it did look like Vazquez was more or less in the actual on-deck circle. You can see weighted bats and warm-up equipment right near where he was standing.

That’s a scary spot to be in with a right-handed batter at the plate. But there’s only so much MLB can do when some stadiums don’t have the physical space to move an on-deck circle.

Vazquez would fly out in his at-bat that inning, which had to be a lot better than a baseball to the face.

Christian Vazquez had his interview awkwardly cut short right after he was traded to the Astros

This was certainly an awkward moment for Christian Vazquez.

We’re getting down to the wire ahead of the MLB trade deadline and Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez is the latest domino to fall.

On Monday, less than 24 hours before the trade deadline, a bizarre situation occurred ahead of the Red Sox’s game against the Houston Astros. According to Jeff Passan, long-time Red Sox catcher Vazquez was on the move just hours before first pitch to… the hosting Astros.

It’s not often trades take a player between clubhouses like this, but Vazquez seemingly found out about the trade while he was on the field for warmups. Media for the Red Sox and Astros were able to track down Vazquez to ask him his thoughts on the trade, but before the 31-year-old catcher could get very far, Boston public relations awkwardly pulled him away from the crowd.

Vazquez was clearly still taking the trade in — he’s spent all eight years of his MLB career with the Red Sox and was the team’s longest-tenured member — as he was talking to the media, so it’s no wonder the PR representative stepped in. But man, what an awkward situation.

Even weirder is that Vazquez was just in hitters meetings with the Red Sox and now knows how his former team was planning on dealing with the Astros pitchers!

It’s a shame Vazquez’s time with the Red Sox has ended in such an unceremonious manner, as he was clearly beloved by his teammates and Boston fans alike.

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Hunter Renfroe saved a run for the Red Sox by accidentally hip-checking the ball over the fence

An obscure ground rule double ruling gave Boston new life.

Welcome to the MLB postseason, where an obscure baseball rule has turned the tide and the momentum of a series!

On Sunday, in the 13th inning of the Tampa Bay Rays versus Boston Red Sox ALDS, baseball fans were treated to an unusual ground rule double situation. With Yandy Diaz on first for Tampa Bay, Kevin Kiermaier smacked a ball into right-center field, which bounced off the top of the wall and right into Hunter Renfroe in the outfield.

The ball then careened off of Renfroe’s accidental hip check and went over the outfield wall, causing instant chaos and confusion from the Red Sox players on the field. Diaz came around to score on the play, but after a lengthy review the umpires ruled the play a ground rule double.

The result? Diaz stayed put at third and Kiermaier went to second, with no runs scored on the play.

Here’s the alternate angle of the play, which gives a better look at the path the ball took off of the wall and then off of Renfroe.

Baseball fans immediately were confused by the ruling, which logically makes no sense since Renfroe is an active player and isn’t a stationary part of the field. However, there is a very obscure MLB rule that covers this specific instance and states that a ball deflected by a player out of play is considered a ground rule double.

Unfortunately for the Rays, Tampa Bay was unable to score off of the completely bizarre play and Diaz and Kiermaier were left on base to end the inning.

And of course, as sports narratives often do, we got a picture-perfect ending to the game, as Renfroe got on base and then Christian Vazquez blasted home a two-run home run to give the Red Sox the 6-4 win and the 2-1 series lead.

Talk about a demoralizing end if you’re the Rays. To go from scoring the go-ahead run to having it called back due to circumstances completely out of your control, then to see the guy who caused that weird play put the dagger in you while rounding the bases? Just brutal.

In the end, the umpires got the call right as written in the rule book, but don’t be surprised if it changes due to the strange circumstances it brings about.

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