Tampa Bay wins when Jose Bautista violates new slide rule
The third day of the regular season produced a fascinating ending Tuesday night involving the new slide rule at second base that had the Tampa Bay Rays celebrating a 3-2 win and the Toronto Blue Jays in disbelief.
With the bases loaded an one out in the top of the ninth inning, Edwin Encarnacion hit the ball to third baseman Evan Longoria, who threw to second to get Jose Bautista. Logan Forsythe threw to first but it off target and wasn’t in time to get Encarnacion. Ryan Goins scored the tying run and Josh Donaldson followed with the go-ahead run on what would have been a throwing error.
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The Blue Jays celebrated in the dugout, but the Rays challenged the play at second saying Bautista violated the new slide rule by interfering with Forsythe.
The replay proved them right. Bautista slid correctly directly into the base, but he reached out and grabbed Forsythe’s foot and umpires called Encarnacion out ending the game.
Toronto manager John Gibbons argued the call as the Rays celebrated the win while the Blue Jays could hardly believe what was happening. They were clearly struggling to wrap their minds around the fact that something they’ve seen happen throughout their lives in baseball was now against the rules and costing them a win.
Gibbons was still angry about the ruling when he met with reporters after the game, including Gregor Chisholm from MLB.com, who shared these comments from Gibbons.
“Are we trying to turn the game into a joke? I mean, really. That was flat out embarrassing. That cost us an opportunity to win a Major League game. Was that the intent? Well, that’s probably the results you’re going to get. I was talking to some guys in Spring Training, said wait until it happens when it ends a game, a Major League game. It truly is an embarrassment.
“Baseball is a hard-nosed game. He gets down in plenty of time, he’s going to the bag. There’s really no explanation for it. Wins matter in this business and for that to come out like that, I don’t get it.
“Crap, all that matters is we had a chance to win, we take the lead. We’re in the ninth inning, we take the lead. We battled to get into that position and you’re going to end a game like that. Really, it’s a joke. It’s a shame. I get the intent, you go after somebody, you hurt somebody, I get that. But that’s good baseball, that has been baseball forever. Maybe they just want them to run and get out of the way. I don’t know.”
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Gibbons also added this:
Gibbons tells reporters: “Maybe we’ll come out and wear dresses tomorrow. Maybe that’s what everybody’s looking for.”
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) April 6, 2016
It’s not really a surprise to see some struggling to get used to the new rule, which was put in place in the offseason after several ugly season-ending injuries occurred to infielders on takeout slides at second base late last season. Having a game be decided by the new rule might actually help players adjust more quickly in the long run.
Players already should have known it was going to be called and now they know not adjusting the way they play can cost them wins.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
