Byron Buxton's inside the park home run is reversed after replay, a breakdown
What Happened
In the bottom of the ninth inning of a close game between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox, Twins outfielder Byron Buxton steps up to the plate with two outs and the game on the line. White Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks delivers a cutter that Buxton lightly bloops over to left fielder Eloy Jiménez. Jiménez, not known for his defensive prowess, struggles to cleanly field the ball and it gets stuck in the fence. Rather than simply picking up the ball and throwing it in, Jiménez throws his hands up in the air, allowing Buxton to sprint around the bases. Buxton rounds first base, believing he has an inside-the-park home run, as his teammates and the crowd erupt in cheers. However, the umpires quickly signal for a replay review and after a close examination, they determine that the ball did, in fact, get stuck in the fence, which should have resulted in Buxton being awarded second base. "Technically, it did get stuck underneath the fence," says one of the umpires, explaining the decision. Twins outfielder Max Kepler appears confused by the ruling, but Buxton calmly takes his place on second base. "I told you that," he says to Kepler, knowing the play should have been ruled a ground-rule double. The game continues and the White Sox ultimately emerge victorious in the next at-bat. Despite the disappointing outcome for the Twins, the sequence has provided an exciting and entertaining moment for baseball fans, showcasing the unpredictable nature of the game and the importance of the replay system in ensuring fair and accurate rulings.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentfun play alert from a couple days ago
white sox at
twins it's a ninth inning there's two
outs one more out game's over a nice
cutter there from column a tries to
throw it again buxton says
uh bloops it over to eloy all right
this cracks me up okay so he
blooped it over to eloy
kind of a lot line drive right at him
spins eloy around because he's not like
a good
left fielder but you know he probably
should catch that because it simply
should be caught
then it gets stuck in the fence and he's
two feet away from it and instead of
just picking it up and throwing it in he
says you know what i didn't catch the
ball i ain't throwing the ball either
so he goes hands up it's stuck in look
where buxton is at this point
i mean he just rounded first if if eloy
just picks this ball
up and throws it in buxton's at second
with a double and probably stays that
second
because he's right there i mean the rule
is if a ball gets stuck in the
ball gets stuck in the fence it's
supposed to be like if it impedes your
fielding if it
takes an unnatural bounce or it goes in
a different direction or you read the
ricochet but then it got stuck or it
gets stuck in the ivy
i mean this is just right at his feet
and he's like no no no
no i know the rules i don't have to play
defense if this happens look how easy he
took it out
and he's looking around he's like wait
what because buxton thinks he's got an
inside the park home run now colin is
like dude what the
just pick it up it's like it got stuck
underneath and
everyone's like yeah we know man but you
could just picked it up and threw it in
anyway they go to replay and replay has
his back
they're like you know what technically
it did get stuck underneath the fence
so you hey hey you
got a second buxton goes the second
kepler's all confused he's like
why
[Music]
and then he was like i told you that
anyway white sox won on the next
batter
i love yoy