TORONTO — Did that race count? How many exits were there? What the heck is a fourth out? What the hell just happened? For 15 minutes into the top of the seventh of the Red Sox-Blue Jays series opener Monday night at Rogers Centre, that’s what everyone in both dugouts was asking. Depending on which dugout you were in, you had different answers. Here’s the scene, step by step, that led to chaos and the Red Sox getting a run long after touching home plate. The first play: With runners on first and second and no outs, Nick Sogard hit a low, hard liner to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base. However, the ball fell to the ground and threw shortstop Andrés Giménez at second base for the first out of the inning, allowing Sogard to stay at first and Anthony Seigler to advance to third. The Red Sox were down 2-0 at the time, pushing to get back into the game. The confusion: The scoreboard showed two outs and the play was also announced to the media as a double play at the time. The final play: Ceddanne Rafaela flied out to center fielder Brett Bateman, but there seemed to be confusion among players on both sides about whether that was the second or third out. Bateman threw the ball again, which eventually reached first base, where Vladdy tagged the bag. Did it feel like something was… wrong? That’s when meetings began between the umpiring crew and Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy and Blue Jays manager John Schneider. The players were getting involved, too, with Max Scherzer eager to share his opinion on the matter from the Blue Jays dugout. The question at the center of the confusion was whether the runner on third scored and whether that run would ultimately count. This was especially confusing on a play where some players seemed to have different impressions about the number of outs. “What we have here is that we have a time game,” crew chief Chris Guccione announced to the crowd, “which means that when the third out was made at first base without the runner bunting, the runner who was on third base also didn’t bunt but crossed home plate before the third out was made at first base. So we’re going to New York to do a rules review.” After consulting with the replay review team in New York, the officiating team met once again with each coach and Guccione again addressed the crowd and television audience. “After calling New York and fixing everything, the race is going to score,” Guccione announced. “End of inning. Two runs for Toronto, one run for Boston.” This is where it is important to distinguish between a “time game,” not a “force game.” This is based on Rule 5.09(c)(4), which states that when an appeal play is made on an end-of-inning play, “the decision of the appeal play takes priority in determining the out.” “Both Boston runners, thinking there were two outs, just left,” Guccione told a pool reporter after the game. “When the second out was made, we now have two runners who didn’t come back and tag correctly. At that point, the guy on third had crossed home plate and the guy on first was standing on second. Toronto knew he hadn’t bunted and threw to first base to make the third out. Well, that’s a time play, which means it’s not a force play. If it’s a force play, the run isn’t automatically scored. If it’s a time play, that’s ‘it was the out.’ Before or after the runner crossed home plate — in this case, the runner crossed before the appeal play was made? [at first]. On this play, it’s what’s called an apparent fourth out.” Since Toronto’s fielders were ruled to have left the field of play, meaning they had all crossed the third base line, they were no longer allowed to appeal to third base, which would have been necessary to prevent that run from scoring. Instead, the Blue Jays had only appealed to first base when the play was deemed “over,” and under Rule 5.09(c)(4), that appeal to first took priority “It didn’t cross my mind until I walked into the dugout, remembering that playing time exists,” third baseman Charles McAdoo told Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae after the game. “And that was a situation where it came into play. And right when I walked into the dugout, I was like, ‘Damn, I missed it.'” In the end, the ruling didn’t affect the outcome of the game, which the Blue Jays won, 2-1, to open the series. Schneider had been involved in a similar play on July 30, 2016, while managing the Lansing Lugnuts, Toronto’s Class A Midwest League affiliate at the time. Schneider: “They told me all my players were on the other side of the field. third base line before [home-plate umpire] Charlie [Ramos] greets outside the race, which I don’t agree with 100%. I don’t know if Vlad is that fast after receiving the ball at the beginning. They did not give us the opportunity to appeal to third parties. In the future, when that play happens again in the next 100 years, if it’s us, we’ll take the lead at third. That’s the best I’ve got.” Tracy, who had never seen a “fourth out” play and called it “lucky” for Boston: “We have to know there’s an out, regardless of what’s on the board or not. Yes, it was a very strange situation where players on both sides seemed to be confused.” Matt Betts contributed to this report.
