The Game Turned Late
The Toronto Blue Jays slipped past the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 in Sunday's series finale, but the game will be remembered for a call that never came. With the Orioles leading 4-1 and runners on the corners in the bottom of the sixth, Brandon Valenzuela hit a chopper to shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who attempted to start a double play by tagging Ernie Clement advancing from first. Clement veered well wide of the baseline to avoid the tag, and second base umpire Nic Lentz let him stay safe.
Jesús Sánchez scored on the play, and two-out RBI hits soon after gave the Blue Jays a lead they would not relinquish. The Orioles argued that Clement had run more than three feet away from his base path—a violation under MLB Rule 5.09(b)—but the umpire's decision stood. The rule defines base path as a straight line from the runner to the base at the moment the tag attempt occurs, not an imaginary line between the bases.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
"I'm not gonna go chase him to right field when I'm trying to turn a double play there," Henderson said afterward. Orioles manager Craig Albernaz was told by umpires that Clement was indeed wide of the baseline at the moment of the tag attempt, though whether he had deviated more than three feet from the invisible line he himself established remained the question.
The Small Details Added Up
Shane Baz, who was on the mound for the Blue Jays, offered no public comment on the play. "The only reason that I'm not gonna talk about that play is because I will get fined," he said post-game.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider took a diplomatic view. "Ernie… I haven't looked at it yet, maybe fortunate there. I think that the runner has three feet and Ernie's good at disguising that sometimes, I guess."
The loss stings especially given what happened in the ninth: Jackson Holliday, the potential tying run, was called out for deviating from the base path—the exact thing the Orioles had complained about moments earlier.
The Table Looks Different
The victory improved the Blue Jays, the reigning American League champions, to 32-34 on the season. Despite sitting below.500, Toronto is now just a half-game out of the third AL wild-card spot. The Orioles fell to 31-35, but remain 1½ games from playoff position.