Two of the best teams in the American League faced each other over the weekend as the Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins went at it in Minnesota. The Blue Jays and Twins split two games apiece during the series, but the final game was one that the Twins didn’t believe that they should have lost.
Blue Jays vs Twins Overturned Call
Blue Jays beat the Twins in extra innings after a controversial overturned call at the plate 👀
(via @Sportsnet)pic.twitter.com/jIZOXuGuUd
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) August 7, 2022
Umpire crew chief Alan Porter and White Merrifield had the following to say, according to MLB.com:
“The ruling is that Gary violated the home-plate collision rule, and that the runner was safe,” said umpire crew chief Alan Porter when asked how Sánchez violated the rule.
“I thought it was going to be overturned and I thought it should be overturned,” Merrifield said. “Obviously, it’s a big point in the game, and you don’t want it to come down to a rules decision, but the rules are there for a reason. A while ago, I could have run him over and tried to free the ball, but you can’t do that anymore. He’s got to give me a lane to slide in. I didn’t think I had one. Like I said, I think they made the right call.”
Baldelli wasn’t as happy as some of the others, saying the following according to MLB.com:
“For someone to step in, in that situation, and ultimately make a decision that [he] was blocking the plate, that’s beyond embarrassing for our game, for all the players out there, on both sides of the field, working their [tails] off, for the entire game,” said Baldelli, who was ejected. “It’s completely unacceptable.”
This is a tough loss for Minnesota, but this rule has been in place for the past decade or so. With all the injuries that were happening to catchers and runners when they were sliding into home plate throughout the past, the MLB decided to crack down on this and it makes sense why it’s a rule. It’s unfortunate for Minnesota that they lost this way, but it was the right call on the field.
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