The Baltimore Orioles earned an 8-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday evening, however the recreation resulted in controversial style, which led to a dialogue between the White Sox and Main League Baseball.
Down 8-6 with runners on first and second base within the backside of the ninth, White Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi hit a popup, which was dominated an infield fly and caught by Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson for the second out.Â
Umpires dominated the runner at second — Andrew Vaughn — interfered with Henderson, ending the sport. Henderson, who was coming from behind, went round Vaughn because the runner retreated towards second. Vaughn was standing on the bottom as Henderson camped underneath the ball and made the catch on the infield grass.
Third base umpire Junior Valentine made the game-ending name, and White Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol got here out to argue to no avail. Crew chief Adrian Johnson mentioned there is no such thing as a discretion when a baserunner seems to make incidental contact with a fielder — even when the play ends in a defensive out. However White Sox common supervisor Chris Getz mentioned MLB instructed him in any other case.
“It’s a judgment name,” Getz mentioned. “There’s discretion by the umpire to make that decision or not. He made the decision and we’ve received to dwell with it.”
Grifol wouldn’t say if the league instructed the White Sox the umpires made the right — or incorrect — name. However he made it clear he thought the umpires received it mistaken.
“The rule’s written a sure method, and I perceive the way in which it’s written — and it’s black and white,” Grifol mentioned. “Nothing within the recreation is black and white. There’s a whole lot of grey. Yesterday, in that specific play, there was a ton of grey. The simplest factor to do was runner on first and second, two out, Kimbrel’s received to get the subsequent man out.”
Grifol additionally referred to as on the league to offer some extra readability on performs just like the one which ended Thursday’s recreation. He mentioned the play might result in fielders initiating contact with runners in comparable situations.
“That is going to occur once more,” he mentioned. “I haven’t seen it in 30 years. However now that it occurred, I assure you we’ll see it once more as a result of everyone across the league appears to be like at conditions like this to create some type of benefit for his or her membership, to get a pair outs in a state of affairs like this.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]
Get extra from Main League Baseball Observe your favorites to get details about video games, information and extra