Red Sox turn confusing double play on Braves, a breakdown
What Happened
In the top of the first inning at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox are trailing the Atlanta Braves 1-0 with the bases loaded and one out. Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson steps to the plate, facing Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck. Olson hits a ground ball, and a confusing sequence of plays unfolds. The umpire initially signals that Olson is out, indicating that Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers caught the ball on the fly. However, the umpire then confers with the other officials and reverses the call, ruling that the ball bounced before Devers caught it. This allows one run to score, and the bases remain loaded with only one out. Braves manager Brian Snitker emerges from the dugout, perplexed by the umpires' rulings. Red Sox manager Alex Cora then instructs his pitcher, Houck, to step off the mound and throw to third base, attempting to record a double play. The umpire then calls Braves baserunner Ozzie Albies out at third, despite Albies appearing to reach the base safely. The Braves' players and coaching staff are visibly confused by the sequence of events. Olson, who was initially ruled out, is now back on second base, unsure of his status. Albies, who was just called out at third, questions the umpire's decision. The umpires confer again, and the call on Albies is reversed, with him being ruled safe at third. Through the chaos, the Red Sox have managed to record two outs, despite the initial confusion. Cora's quick thinking and the umpires' eventual corrected calls have minimized the damage and kept the Red Sox within a run. "I had a pretty good view. I thought it was a catch," the umpire is heard telling the players, trying to explain the initial out call on Olson's ground ball. The replay appears to show the ball bouncing before Devers caught it, but the umpires ultimately rule that the play was not reviewable. As the inning finally comes to an end, the Red Sox have managed to escape a bases-loaded, one-out situation with just a single run scored against them. It's a bizarre and confusing sequence of plays, but the Red Sox's resilience and the umpires' efforts to get the calls right have kept them in the game.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentTop of the first inning and Boston's in a bit of a mess.
They're already down 1-0. Bases are loaded. Only one out recorded.
This breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings and this is funky.
Watch this. First pitch, little slider way away. Ball one.
Then sinker inside. One and one. Slider way away.
Sinker outside. Gets the call. Strike. Goes back to it. 3-2.
Puts it in play. What was the call? Safe there. Throws it away.
All the runners are running. Hold up. What's going on?
No outs on the play at all? One run scores. What's going on?
He's like, uh, catch. Out. You called out, right? I caught it.
I caught it on the fly. Umpire comes up and says, you caught the ball?
Okay, well, all right, let me go talk to my guys. He's like, okay.
Okay, what's happening here? He's like, what are we doing?
You called out. He says, what did you call? He says, yeah, I had him catching it.
And then he threw it away. He's like, yeah, yeah, no, I had a pretty good view.
I thought it was a catch. And then this is it.
So that's the catch or not catch. But look, the umpire does record right there
a very gentle out call. He does do the mechanic of out.
On the catch. And then safe on trying to get the runner tagging up.
But he did call him out. The only problem is, I don't know if he caught it on the fly.
Fenway, because it's so tiny and old, they don't have the best replay angles always
because it's hard to find camera spots. But it does look like at this frame right there,
the dirt underneath the ball turns a color as if it bounced off of it and then into the glove.
Right?
Or is that the bottom of the glove popping up?
No, no, that's not the bottom of the glove popping up right there.
So it seems like there's dirt. But I don't know. They didn't review the catch.
But the tricky thing is, is that it's called a catch. You can see the umpire called a catch.
And Arroyo's like, well, hold on. If it's a catch, then he's out at third.
But what about third? So now what about third? And Cora's like, step off and get him at three.
That's it. It's simple. We'll get the double play. So the pitcher listens to his manager,
steps off, throws to three, and the umpire says, you're out. And then after the umpire says,
you're out, Devers tags Olsen anyway, like double out. Gotcha. Ha ha. And Olsen's confused. He's
like, me? I'm out? Nuh-uh. I'm out? No, you're not out. You were at second. You slid back into
second and beat the getting doubled up. It was Ozzie who was at third who's out. Anyway,
manager comes out, says, what's going on? He didn't tag? All right. Okay. That makes sense.
And Ozzie's like, I was the one that was out? But the umpire said safe. He's very confused.
But the umpire said safe to Olsen getting back to the bag in time and not getting doubled up.
He said out very sheepishly, mind you, right there. And that kind of tricked everybody. But
I don't even think he caught it. So I don't know what this play was.
It's very confusing and weird, but it saved the Red Sox a ton. And it was brought to you by
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