![]() ![]() “You know, I think it was a tough night for Tom,” he said. Maldonado said he thought the strike zone was inconsistent and that umpires missed calls on both sides. The bomb cut the Astros’ lead to 5-3 and helped force Garcia off the mound four batters later in the same inning. Grandal eventually worked a seven-pitch at-bat, got hold of a high changeup and belted a two-run homer. With one on and one out, Astros starter Luis Garcia got ahead of Grandal in the count 0-2, but Hallion missed the third-strike call, deeming a fastball located in the upper outside corner of the zone to be a ball. Grandal also benefited from an umpiring call in the third inning. “That changed the game.”Īfter the controversial play, the White Sox added another run on a ground-ball single to pad their lead at 9-6. “I think it was clear he was in the grass,” Maldonado said. “But he just ran straight up his base line.” “The batter runner was in fair territory, but that doesn’t matter on that play as long as he’s not doing something - the whole key is that he has to do something intentional,” Hallion said. Pearland clips Clear Falls in series opener It also let Jose Abreu, who was at first, advance to third on what wound up being charged as a throwing error to Gurriel. The determined lack of intent meant the ball was live, allowing Robert’s run to count. … I guarantee you that there was no intent to interfere with that play. He just - where he got, he just ran straight to the base. “When (Grandal) comes out of there, he runs direct to the base. “The umpire called it correctly,” La Russa said. White Sox manager Tony La Russa backed up his player. So yeah, I know what the rule is, but like I said, I wish it would have been a heads-up play by my part. I try to get out of the way, and it hit me. As I look up, I see the ball kind of coming straight at me. It takes me a long time to get there, so as I hit the ball, I’m looking down. I was actually just trying to get to first. I didn’t even know I was running that far inside the line. “I wish I could tell you it was a heads-up play,” he said. ![]() Grandal pushed back on the notion that he intentionally ran into the ball’s path. I mean, that was a smart play on his part, and that was the explanation that they gave me that they didn’t see anything wrong with the play.” “I was arguing the fact that especially (Grandal) being a catcher, you know, he knows what he was doing. “What good is an explanation at that point?” Baker said. oTUbXPhW2f- MLB October 11, 2021Īlthough Baker acknowledged that Grandal “didn’t throw his shoulder or elbow or anything like that,” the Astros manager was not satisfied with the explanation the umpires gave him on the field. We all agreed, and that’s why we came out to Dusty and told him that it’s not interference, the run will score.” He did nothing intentional to get hit with that ball. He didn’t veer off he didn’t throw up his shoulder. “The batter established his basepath when he came out of the box and started running. “We decided that there was no interference because on that play there, with a ball hit to the infield and then coming back to the plate, that 45-foot line does not even come into play,” Hallion said. Hallion and the umpiring crew decided it was unintentional. In a statement made to a pool reporter after the game, Hallion explained that he had to determine whether the contact Grandal made with Gurriel’s throw to the plate was intentional. Because no tag was being attempted on Grandal, who wasn’t even halfway to first, he technically wasn’t out of the baseline, even though he was running on the infield grass. Rule 7.08 of the MLB rule book says a runner is out if he runs more than three feet from his baseline to avoid being tagged or if he intentionally interferes with a thrown ball. The play was charged as a throwing error on Gurriel, and Robert’s run counted, giving Chicago an 8-6 lead. Baker came out of the dugout and argued that the play amounted to interference, but umpires left the call on the field as is. ![]() When the ball struck him, Grandal had not reached the double-lined alley in which he must run. Luis Robert slid and scored, knocking over plate umpire Tom Hallion in the process. Gurriel fielded it, but his throw home clearly hit Grandal in the shoulder, putting it off-target once it reached Maldonado. With runners at the corners and no outs, Grandal grounded a slow roller toward Gurriel at first base. ![]()
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