Pirates Score 3 runs on a swinging bunt, a breakdown
What Happened
On July 18, 2021, Mets All-Star Taivan Walker walked into a buzzsaw at PNC Park. The Pirates hung six runs on him in the bottom of the first, and the weirdest part was a swinging bunt that trickled down the third base line. Walker scooped it, decided it was foul, and flipped the ball in the air instead of holding onto it. The umpire ruled it fair, the Pirates third base coach waved everyone around, and three runs scored on a bunt single because nobody was playing the ball. The Mets manager went chest to chest with the ump, got nowhere, and the play stood with no challenge.
Why This Matters
Here's the rule Walker forgot in real time. A batted ball near the line is fair or foul based on where it is when it's first touched, not where it starts. By flipping the ball up rather than gloving it, Walker let the umpire judge a ball that had already curled toward fair territory. That's the whole ballgame on this play. Once it's ruled fair and live, runners keep going, and the Pirates' coach read it perfectly. Walker came in carrying a 2.50 ERA and the start of a strong first half, then got buried 6-0 before recording the third out. The wild twist is the Mets clawed all the way back, scored seven, and won. Walker's line looked ugly. The result didn't.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Taiwan Walker. Teams: Pirates.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentwe've got All-Star Taiwan Walker on the
bump for the Mets in Pittsburgh looking
to repeat what he did in the first half
we had a 2-5-0 era just been lights out
this season and this one is brought to
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John Boy when you do to let him know
that I sent you second Pitch of the game
for Taiwan and he gets the first out and
that's beautiful but things get ugly
right afterwards as that outside
fastball's flared down the line into the
corner and we're gonna get a stand up
double whoo
then next batter curveball takes that
one down the right field line and the
Pirates score a run and this kid is
getting handed a broom from his dad and
he says let's sweep him a dad says yeah
I'm glad I brought this out this is
gonna be fun next ball one ball two ball
three ball four first and second now
first pitch no go sends that back into
the same Corner that's gonna score one
run that's gonna score a second run oh
man base is clearing double does he step
on second base I don't think he did but
no one cared no one challenged it he was
uh chatting with strowman earlier in
this series now he's
oh pumped up
next one ball one ball two ball three
ball four Polanco walks Polanco steals
second baseball one ball two ball three
ball four uh oh base is loaded only one
out here's where it gets really funky we
get a swinging bunt down the line goes
to just touch it and say that's foul um
says no that's fair now everyone's gonna
round the bases as no one's playing the
ball three run bunt single here's the
view that the Umpire had you can see the
angle that he has it's kind of similar
to the angle we have with this camera
replay and I mean it starts foul it's
coming fair and Taiwan knows it's coming
fair so he knows he's got to touch it
before it's officially Fair because as
soon as he touches it that determines
where it is fair foul and I have no idea
man just no idea if you're a pirates fan
you see it with one set of eyes if
you're a match you see it with another
as a unbiased third party I I just have
no idea I just think this camera angle
doesn't tell us anything and the UMP
surely didn't have a view that he could
pinpoint that but Taiwan flips it in the
air and I think it's too risky to do
that you got to keep that in your glove
kudos to the third base coach for waving
everyone home reading the play perfectly
he waves him home he waves the next guy
home Taiwan goes to collect the ball by
that time it's too late
oh they score he's gonna start yelling
he's like no [ __ ] way man that's
[ __ ] horse [ __ ]
I was [ __ ] foul
the Umpire he doesn't want none of it
but Roxas comes up and they lost in
heartbreaking fashion the night before
now this game starts off heartbreaking
fashion so Rojas is all fired up but
yeah I mean look at this view I got no
idea
you could show me another angle where
that's touching white or you can show me
another angle where there's the tiniest
sliver of
dirt in between who knows here's the
other angle that Taiwan had now he had a
better angle than the UMP it's still too
risky to just flip off but managers all
sorts of fired up he starts yelling and
screaming at the UMP maybe he's asking
him to ask the third base hump who
should have a better view they get chest
to chest face to face he starts dipping
and dodging we got the other hump now
coming in he's gonna play some defense
good defense might they add another is
that the pitching coach he plays defense
too the umps gather up and they say I
think we got everything you know pretty
good here I'm happy with it all right
let's go tell him he says yeah no we're
we're pretty happy with everything that
we did you want to review it could the
Mets have reviewed this
I mean it's so inconclusive I guess
you're not going to review it they leave
Taiwan in to face another batter which I
mean at this point his head's got to be
in such a different or such a bad place
he walks that guy and now the Mets are
down six nothing with two on in the
first and the acting manager is going to
come out and say ah you're all good
we'll pick you right up and he's like
all right yeah pick me up and then the
Mets do pick him up they strand them
they score seven themselves they win the
game they don't get swept and everything
kind of gets erased because that's a
hell of a win by them
man
this one's brought to you by DraftKings
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when you do go to the sports book and if
you want to place a bet on the Mets on
Sundays keep in mind that they have
seven wins and seven losses on Sundays
and uh the fact that it's a Sunday
doesn't matter at all you should look
further into who's pitching in the
lineups and where they're playing and
and all that other stuff don't solely
bet because of the day of the week
because they're they're exactly 500 on
Sundays now