Collision with Manny Machado results in two outs despite everyone asking for a balk, a breakdown

What Happened

In a tense moment during a game between the Padres and Guardians, Manny Machado of the Padres fields a ground ball and attempts to make a play at third base. As he receives the ball, the runner from second base, Arius, runs into Machado, causing a collision. Machado appears to tag the runner, but has trouble transferring the ball to his throwing hand. The umpires ultimately rule both the runner at second and the runner at third out, citing interference by Arius with Machado's attempt to make a play. Machado is seen shaking his head, seemingly questioning whether the call was the correct one. The Guardians' broadcast team adamantly believes Machado committed a balk on the play, though the umpires did not make that call. analyzes the play in detail, noting that Machado's spin move to throw to third base is a legal play for a left-handed pitcher, even though it may appear unusual. He explains that because the runner at second base had already taken off, Machado was reacting to the runner's actions, rather than attempting to deceive him, which would be the criteria for a balk call. further clarifies that while the jump-and-spin move to third base is not commonly seen from left-handed pitchers, it is a legal technique, similar to the move right-handed pitchers use when throwing to first base. He acknowledges the confusion around the play, as he could not find many recent examples of left-handers executing this specific maneuver. Ultimately, the umpires' decision to call both runners out due to Arius's interference with Machado's attempt to make a play stands, even as the Guardians' broadcast team continues to argue that a balk should have been called. provides a thorough breakdown of the complex rules and nuances surrounding the play, offering insight into why the umpires may have made the calls they did.

Padres's Guardians had an interesting

situation. This breakdown is brought to

you by SeatGeek. The 10 is put in play.

Manny gobbles it from his knee, throws

it offline. Runner safe. Lead off

runners on. Manny doesn't like it. Looks

up at the jumbotron. Watches the replay.

Shakes his head. He's like,

"Nah, I'm better than that. Should have

made it. It would have been a nice

play." All right. Don't be so hard on

yourself. Hart lefty on the mound. High

fast ball. Do you see that ball? This

bothers me. This bothers me. That ball

is That is awful. Come on. What are we

doing? Look at his arm in the green

screen. What are we doing? Don't mess

with the product like this. That ball's

gone right now. Couple frames later,

it's just a green blob. It's not even a

ball. I understand. We got to do ads. I

got to do ads. Everyone's got to do ads.

Let's not mess with the product that

much. Come on now. Come on. It's brutal.

The ball disappears. You're supposed to

watch the ball. The whole sport is

watching the ball. The Okay, two and one

becomes three in one and then ball four

outside. So now we got runners on first

and runners on second and the Manny is

playing in guarding against the bunt.

Thinking they might try to move the

runners over. Rochio speedster. Good

bunt. Curveball in strike one below the

zone there. The one and one. Swinging a

miss through the fast ball. Now runners

getting their lead. Arius on second

base. He's looking to score. Fouled

back. Stays alive. Checks the runner.

Checks the runner. Oh, he's going. Steps

off. Throws to third. Gobbled up. He's

out. What happened? What happened? They

say, "Yo, you're out for sure." And

then, "Yeah, you interfered." So, yeah,

he's out, too. Double double outs.

That's what they're calling it. Double

outs. Arius walks off and we got to

figure out what's going on. He goes,

"What do you got? Huh? What's going on?"

He's like, "Well, he got he tackled him

basically, so he's out because he he got

in his way." And he goes, "He didn't

have the ball in his hand the whole

time." He's like, "Yeah, I mean, but

still." He's like, "What about the

[ __ ] bo then?" What do you mean? Huh?

He's like, "Well, he boked, right? He's

got to step off." And then the ump says

he says he stepped he steps off the

backside. You have him stepping off.

Yes, I have them stepping off. Okay, I

got him. So then both guys are out. Yep.

All right. All right. So, we just got to

walk back and eat. Let's watch a replay.

What happened here? Manny grabs it, tags

him, goes to transfer, doesn't get the

ball out, but also Arius kind of forgets

that there's still play going. You know,

when when old buddies hang out and they

run into each other, like they hold each

other up. That's what he's doing. He's

like, "Hey, I don't want to collide into

you. I want to hold you up so we don't

fall." But there's still more baseball

to be played. I think I think uh the

runner kind of forgets that. And Manny

plays this perfectly because you have to

show the umpire that you were trying to

continue to play so they know to call

it. You know, you got to make it a

little obvious for him, but he's also

doesn't want to lose the ball. So once

he realizes his arm is getting tied up

here, he's like, I'm not actually going

to transfer the ball to my hand, but I

am going to finish the motion so the

umpire knows he got in my way. Whether

you consider that selling it or not, he

did get in his way. You can't do that.

You can't just tackle the fielder when

he's still got plays to make. So, both

runners are out. You got to just get out

of his way or something. It's pretty

weird. But Manny does a great job here

playing through it, making sure everyone

sees what's going on. But the bigger

question that I saw everywhere was, "Was

that a bulk?" Which is always a very

hard question to address. Was it a bulk?

He's shaking his head like, "What was I

doing? Why did I do that?" Now, the

Guardians broadcast, they were pretty

adamant that it was a bach. Like, very

adamant. Even though that to me is a

ball. I don't care what anybody says. He

didn't step off the spin move.

You're thinking he's got to step walk.

Step off the rubber before he throws a

third base. He can't just turn and

throw. His foot was on the rubber and

you can't review it. But not one of

those umpires saw it. Watch his foot

that's on the his left foot. Boom. He

jumped. He did He did a spin move.

You've got to step off. Yeah. He he just

spun on over to throw at third base

because he saw the second baseman and

he, you know, he didn't do anything. So,

he did not step off the rubber.

So, I went through a ton of footage and

read a ton of the read read the rules

and I I got I'm not smart enough to

fully wrap my head around rules. Someone

did sum it up perfectly for me in this

way. They said box are in place so

pitchers cannot deceive the runner. If

the runner starts running and the

pitcher is reacting to the runner, it

can't be a bulk because there's no

deception to be had. The runner is

instituting all of the motion and chaos

because he has the runner has not been

deceived. He he ran before the pitcher

did anything. That makes a lot of sense

to me. I've never had it put like that.

So, that makes sense. So, if the pitcher

is reacting to the runner, then it's not

a bo. Maybe not always, but in some

senses. Now, I also read that if the

runner just just fake went to third and

then went back to second and the pitcher

threw it to third unoccupied base and no

play to be made, it it would have been a

balk. The other thing people are saying

is this is very similar to when a righty

throws to first. That jump spin move is

legal. Now, I searched every time a

lefty pitcher was on the mound and threw

to third base and I didn't find any

since 2022, so small period where they

did this move. So that's why in our

brains it it it looks like a ball

because we've never seen it. What we're

used to seeing is the lefty step off the

back of the mound like that and put his

foot down and then turn and throw. Or

we're used to seeing the lefties leg

come up and then he turns and steps off

the back like that and then follows the

runner. But we're not used to seeing

them do the jump move. Righties do it to

first base all the time. It is legal

like that. That's what we're seeing

here, this move. So, I understand why

people are confused because it's not as

common as you thought. I couldn't find

any examples. I found examples of the

rest. I saw a lot of times where the

jump move is used to throw to second by

a lefty like that, which is very

similar. See Blake Snell, he doesn't

step off. He just jump and spins and

throws and then the play ends up at

third because the runner took off. So,

the runner takes off and he throws a

second and then they throw to third.

We're used to that. But in this case, he

steps off in that manner and throws to

third, not second. Not a bo per

everything I read and s searched. But I

understand the confusion because I

couldn't find another video where a

lefty did the spin move and threw

straight to third. So if you got any

more insight on that, let me know. If

not, appreciate you watching. Share it,

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What Happened

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