Marlins lose home run following bizarre base-running error

Just when you think you’ve seen everything the game has to offer, baseball finds a way to surprise you. That was the case Monday night, as the Miami Marlins managed to lose a home run due to a bizarre base-running error.

Allow us to set the stage. With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna hit a single up the middle to kick things off for Miami. On the second pitch of the next at-bat, catcher J.T. Realmuto drove a ball to deep left field, near the Marlins home run structure.

Center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis tracked the ball to the outfield wall, and jumped at the last second, thinking he had a shot to come up with the catch. That wasn’t the case, and Realmuto appeared to hit a two-run homer to give Miami an early lead.

We say “appeared,” because Realmuto was never awarded with a home run. He was actually given a single and an RBI, and was ruled out on the play after passing Ozuna on the base paths.

How could this happen? Well, it makes sense when you watch the play in real-time. Ozuna couldn’t commit to second base on the play based on how Nieuwenhuis was tracking the ball. Instead, he ran back to first to tag up, just in case Nieuwenhuis came down with an amazing catch.

Realmuto, meanwhile, was running out the play. Even if he didn’t have a home run, he was hustling down to first as most hitters do on fly outs.

Problem is, when Realmuto reached first, he took one to two steps toward second base. This occurred at exactly the same time Ozuna went back to tag first in case the ball was caught. For roughly two seconds, Realmuto had accidentally passed Ozuna on the bases.

That was enough for the umps to make the call. After a quick review, it was determined that Realmuto had indeed passed Ozuna on the base paths. The Marlins were awarded with one run instead of two, and Realmuto was called out on the play.

For a while, the Marlins announcers and even the official scorer were unsure how to handle the play. According to the announcers, the official scorer was on the phone with the MLB higher-ups in New York, getting advice on how to rule the play.

When the dust settled, Realmuto was given a single, an RBI and was ruled out.

The play was scored similarly to Robin Ventura’s infamous grand slam in Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS.

Ventura clearly hit the ball over the wall, but since he never touched all four bases, he was awarded with a single instead of a grand slam. It’s not the perfect comparison, but it shows that there’s at least some historical context for scoring Realmuto’s play a single.

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Even though the scoring of the play makes sense, it still looks weird. Instead of being the hero on the play, Realmuto was charged with an out, and doesn’t count as a run scored. That’s a pretty unusual, and harsh, punishment, but it’s completely in line with the rules.

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