It’s not every game that you see players on both MLB teams at a complete loss over a rule, but home plate umpire Mike Estabrook managed to make that happen on Monday. Losing track of the count will do that.
During the series opener between the Braves and Dodgers, Ozzie Albies tried to move into scoring position in the eighth inning on an attempted steal of second base. Jorge Soler was at the plate with a 1-1 count and swung (and missed) at the pitch from Corey Knebel.
That was when all the confusion started. Jomboy Media came in with an excellent video breakdown of the several-minute delay at Dodger Stadium.
While Albies successfully swiped second, he was initially called out because Soler’s momentum from the missed swing caused an interference with the throw. We can see that, yeah, Soler was sort of in the way of the throw.
At that point, though, the enforcement of MLB Rule 6.03(a)(3) went off the rails because Estabrook lost track of the count. According to the rule, the batter is ruled out on an interference, and the baserunner has to return to the previous base. But because Estabrook thought Soler struck out (the count was 1-1, not 1-2), Albies had to be out as punishment for the interference while Soler’s strikeout counted separately. You can’t call a player out twice, after all.
Again, Soler didn’t strike out. It was the second strike. So, both teams were standing around laughing out of confusion and trying to get a sense of what was going on.
Here’s the rule:
If the batter interferes with the catcher, the plate umpire shall call “interference.” The batter is out and the ball dead. No player may advance on such interference (offensive interference) and all runners must return to the last base that was, in the judgment of the umpire, legally touched at the time of the interference. If, however, the catcher makes a play and the runner attempting to advance is put out, it is to be assumed there was no actual interference and that runner is out—not the batter. Any other runners on the base at the time may advance as the ruling is that there is no actual interference if a runner is retired. In that case play proceeds just as if no violation had been called.
Yes, every MLB rule is worded in the most incoherent way possible.
Eventually, the umpires would go to the headset and figure out that Soler didn’t strike out on the play. They’d accurately call him out for interference and let Albies return to first safely. You also have to love how Albies didn’t really know what happened in the first place because he didn’t see the play due to the slide into second.
I can only imagine how confused the fans at the game were — just seeing both teams standing around with no explanation. But that’s the magic of baseball — sometimes nobody knows what’s happening!
Freddie Freeman would end up grounding out to end the inning, and the Braves would lose, 5-3.
[mm-video type=video id=01febt7kw311a2tcpev1 playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01febt7kw311a2tcpev1/01febt7kw311a2tcpev1-83fd8d08c7db9aae6f1ce0770a044645.jpg]