Look out! Angels lose as runner Taylor Featherston is hit by batted ball

They are painful ways to lose baseball games, and then there are strange ways to lose baseball games that are literally quite painful.

We’d say both apply to the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, especially for pinch-runner Taylor Featherston, who was on the receiving end of teammate Matt Joyce’s “walkoff” single.

As the rules state, if a runner is hit by a fair batted ball while he is on fair territory, he is immediately called out. There’s no judgment in play, no intent to consider. The only exceptions come down to if the baseball was deflected or had already passed all infielders.

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Unfortunately for Featherston, neither exception applied on Saturday. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when Matt Joyce’s line drive clipped him on the leg. He was called out, Joyce was credited with an unusual single, and the game was over on the spot.

Oh, the agony.

The Angels were actually in full-on rally mode when the play happened as well. They’d already rallied for a pair of runs off starter Tim Hudson and reliever Sergio Romo and Jeremy Affeldt to cut the lead to one.

Featherston was pinch running for David Freese, who had just singled home Mike Trout. Kole Calhoun was on third, and the Angels were in business as Bruce Bochy called on Santiago Casilla, his fourth pitcher in the inning.

And then just that quick, it was over.

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If there’s one saving grace for Featherson, it might be that Joe Panik was well positioned to knock the frozen rope down as the Giants positioned their second baseman in short right field. In other words, it may have been an out anyway. Then again, as Featherston can attest, that ball was struck so well it was may have a difficult play for Panik to handle.

That part we’ll never know. What we do know is San Francisco won the game, Featherston is applying an ice pack to his lower leg or foot, and weird baseball has shown up in full force this weekend.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813