Grandal runs into the throw on purpose, a breakdown
What Happened
In Game 4 of the 2021 ALDS, with Houston trailing the White Sox and runners on with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, Zack Greinke entered in relief and faced Yasmani Grandal. Grandal hit a dribbler down the first base line, and instead of running in foul territory, he drifted into fair grass directly in the throwing lane. The catcher's throw home hit Grandal, the ball skidded away, and the runner scored as Astros players and manager Dusty Baker argued he ran out of the baseline. Umpires ruled the play legal because a runner establishes his own basepath and only intentional interference counts.
Why This Matters
This is a great rules-nerd moment because everyone watching assumed Grandal cheated, and technically he didn't. The 'baseline' that matters for runners is really only on plays at first and at home, and even there the runner gets to set his own path as long as he stays consistent and doesn't intentionally throw an arm or shoulder up to deflect the ball. Jomboy's tape work showing Grandal running on the grass that one time but in foul territory on other comparable grounders is the whole case, and it cuts both ways: it looks intentional, but intent to run there isn't the same as intent to interfere. The Astros couldn't get the call overturned. Houston still won the series in four games, so the bizarre legal loophole became trivia rather than a turning point.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Zack Greinke.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentbottom of the fourth inning in a lds
playoff game zach grenky comes in he
checks out the scoreboard he's like
what's the situation or the situation
it's seven to six houston's losing
there's two runners on there's no outs a
lot of runs have been scored already if
you downloaded the draftking sportsbook
app if you use promo code john boy when
you downloaded it and you took the over
in this game you've already won you're
sitting pretty you're having fun cranky
comes in and yasmani grand doll is the
batter he's gonna face first who got a
nice break earlier in the game because
garcia had him two strikes throws that
pitch
probably strike three
doesn't get the call later on in the
back garcia throws the same exact pitch
and now it's hit for a home run if you
can hit it for a home run it's usually
probably a strike also if it's in the
strike zone so that's nice so now grand
all's up again he's got two on he's
looking to extend the lead that one
fouled away need a new ball here we go
pitch number two dribbler down the first
base line they're going to come home to
get the out and the ball skids away
where'd it go what happened
confusion
it hit grand all who was running in the
grass it gets away from the catcher the
runner slides in he's safe he picks up
the umpire just tabletops from tom allen
just going for an absolute ride right
here um
just having a good time having a great
time together they've bonded they will
laugh about that and right away gran
Altuve maldonado are pointing like hey
he's in the baseline come on
i was like hey he's out that doesn't
count illegal is that grinky's upset
he's that's not even close i'm just like
what he's like he's out of the baseline
okay all all right all right i'll calm
down that guy's taking a selfie this
guy's holding up the magical cane in
celebration if you don't know about the
magical cane here you go
gonna put the spell on alvarez another
3-2
he's stuck him out
magic so the umpires get together like
you're right time he's like yeah yeah
i'm okay i'm okay tom you're right like
yeah yeah i'm all right i'm all right
okay let me dust you off back here tom's
like all right we gotta figure this out
everyone if you could lower your heads a
little bit so you can hear me better
please did he run out of the baseline
what happened here is how he ran his uh
you know he gets onto that grass pretty
quick one foot on the grass two feet on
the grass three feet on the grass four
feet on the grass i brought up a bunch
of other similar hits this season and
see how grand all run ran see if he ever
went on the grass no grass
uh no grass no grass there no grass
there
no grass there
no grass on that one and no grass on
that one and a lot of grass on this one
he ran
uh on purpose in the way the only
problem is per the rules
that's totally legal the baseline only
matters for plays
at first base
plays at home it doesn't matter and the
runner gets to establish his own
baseline so as long as he starts off
that way and stays true to it he can run
however he wants he just can't
intentionally get in the way of the ball
so
they're gonna explain that to dusty
right now and he's like what and dusty's
like no no he ran
out of the way and he said no it doesn't
matter doesn't matter where he runs and
helen's gonna say it's gotta be
something intentional like if he throws
his shoulder up or something like that
and dusty's like well he got in the way
and he says i don't think so dusty
he was just running down there
that's uh that's part of the play it's
part of the play and dusty's like uh no
he got in the way on purpose
but it's just legal
so the play stands and then granky
another grounder down the baseline
that's safe the next play is another
grounder down the baseline well that's a
little more in that's through more runs
than another grounder to the first
he ran normal that's an out and then
another ground in the first he ran
normal
that's an out interesting play because
per the rules it's legal which is a
little bizarre they're saying that's the
lane he took and if he didn't
intentionally throw his arm up the ball
just hit him i don't know to what
lengths you can spin this
you know can you run at the pitcher no
but you're allowed to do this like per
the rules i read a lot of umpire reviews
and they said per the rules
you're fine
so if base is loaded
and you hit one of the first baseman get
in his way in the future
run towards him i guess
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