TORONTO – Apparently an out at home plate isn’t always an out, even though it can still lead to an out, as the Toronto Blue Jays discovered to their detriment in Thursday night’s 12-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Confused? No worries, so was pretty much everyone else who saw a convoluted set of rules and replay regulations that seem to contradict each other lead to a controversial out call on Danny Valencia in the fifth inning.
Trying to score from second on a one-out Devon Travis single, Valencia slid around catcher Ryan Hanigan’s leg trying to beat Mookie Betts’ throw, swiped at the plate and appeared to avoid the tag, but was called out by home plate umpire Gerry Davis.
Pitcher Wade Miley urged Hanigan to tag Valencia again, just in case, while Jose Reyes yelled at Valencia to touch the plate. Unbeknownst to the players on the field, that second tag turned out to be the play’s critical moment after manager John Gibbons asked for a review, and replay officials determined Hanigan missed the initial tag while being unable to conclusively see Valencia touching home.
The second tag, Davis explained to a pool reporter, "negates that (first) call at all. If both the runner misses the plate and the tag is missed, if the umpire makes a call, and the catcher appeals it before going to the headset, then he’s called out."
Though Hanigan didn’t appeal the play verbally, Davis continued, "he just went over and tagged him, which is a form of appeal."
Asked if that interpretation of the rules came from replay officials, Davis replied, "Correct."
Under V.F.3 of the Major League Baseball Replay Review Regulations, "when reviewing a play at home plate, if the Replay Official determines both that the runner did not touch home plate and that the fielder did not tag the runner (or, in the case of a force play, did not touch home plate), the Replay Official shall rule the runner ‘safe’ at home plate unless the defensive Manager appeals the failure of the runner to touch home plate prior to the Crew Chief making contact with the Replay Official."
In this case, the catcher, apparently, can replace the "defensive Manager," as the interpretation of the regulations as applied in this case is that the replay official under the circumstances is to rule the runner out for failing to touch home if he is subsequently tagged upon appeal (or the defence properly appeals the base).
Still, the Blue Jays can say the regulation contradicts itself, as the example attached V.F.3 reads: "A runner attempts to score on a play at the plate. The catcher misses the tag on the runner, and the runner fails to touch home plate, but the umpire calls a tag and the runner ‘out.’ The offensive manager challenges the call, and the Replay Official determines that the catcher missed the tag. The Replay Official shall disregard the failure of the runner to touch home plate, declare the runner ‘safe’ and score the run."
Basically, there was no way for Valencia to know Davis felt he may have missed the plate (replays were inconclusive which complicated matters), and once he saw the out signalled, he understandably assumed his role in the play was dead.
"Yeah, there’s really nothing else to say," explained Valencia. "I mean, he made the out call right in front of my face. I’ve never seen an umpire reverse a call before. Have you?"
For his part, Hanigan assumed the out call came from the initial tag, not the subsequent tag.
"I don’t know if he missed the plate or not, I didn’t see it from where I was," he said. "I was trying to keep him from getting to the plate. Maybe I nipped him. Then I got up and tagged him. But he had already called him out."
Added Miley: "I was late backing up and I was right on the play. He missed the bag. I told Hani to tag him again."
The score was 8-4 at the time and the run would have made it a three-run game with two men on and top of the order coming up. There could have been a significant swing in momentum.
"No doubt," said Valencia. "We had a lot of opportunities to score, we left a lot of guys on base, but it was good that our offence kept fighting and we ended up scoring six runs. We missed some opportunities to score more and tack on some runs. It’s unfortunate."
All the more so due to an unusual play that left many scratching their heads.
"When the runner misses the plate and there’s no tag, if the umpire makes a call, if the catcher appeals it before going to the headset, the call becomes out, which is what (Hanigan) did," said Davis. "That’s basically it in a nutshell."
Clear as mud.