Tigers game delayed because Yoenis Cespedes was in the bathroom
They don’t cover this one in baseball’s new pace-of-play rules for 2015: Yoenis Cespedes delayed the Detroit Tigers game Monday against the Cincinnati Reds because he was in the bathroom.
In the top of the third inning, Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez was ready to pitch (a pace-of-play high-five to you, sir) and Brennan Boesch was ready to hit (a pace-of-play high-five to you as well, sir), but the Tigers had no left fielder.
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Everybody stood around for about a minute, wondering where Yoenis Cespedes was. In the Tigers dugout, Justin Verlander made some hand signals, which didn’t make it exactly clear what was going to the people watching at home. But everybody on the field and the announcers seemed to understand what was happening – Cespedes was caught up in the bathroom. Hey, it happens to the best of us.
In fact, we’ve seen this happen in Little League before, where a player has to run off to use the potty then make the walk of shame back onto the field. Cespedes came running out to his position, a little embarrassed, we’re sure. The total delay was close to two minutes. But that aside, the game finished pretty quickly, at two hours, 37 minutes, with Sanchez two-hitting the Reds in a 6-0 Tigers win.
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Reds play-by-play guy Thom Brennaman seemed a little perturbed that nobody forced the Tigers to replace Cespedes. He said only baseball would allow this sort of thing, which maybe he meant as a dig, but it seemed like a compliment too. Let he who has not taken too long in the bathroom be the first to judge!
As for us here at The Stew, we just hope Cespedes washed his hands. But we’re thinking that may not have happened.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
