A baffling scoreboard error and a little-known Major League Baseball rule resulted in a 17-minute delay and an unusual run for the Boston Red Sox against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
The incident occurred in the top of the seventh inning with the Blue Jays leading 2-0. Red Sox infielder Anthony Siegler and catcher Connor Wong had hit singles, placing runners on third and first, respectively. During the at-bat of Nick Sogard, Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a play to get Wong out at second base, leaving Sogard on first and Siegler on third.
At this point, the scoreboard at Rogers Centre erroneously displayed two outs. When Red Sox outfielder Cedanne Rafaela hit a fly ball to center field, both Siegler and Sogard began advancing, believing there were two outs and that they did not need to tag up on a potential catch. However, only one out had actually been recorded.
After Blue Jays centerfielder Brett Bateman made the catch for the second out, he threw the ball into the infield. A subsequent throw to first base by a Toronto fielder to get Sogard out for failing to tag up would normally have ended the inning. However, in the interim, Siegler had crossed home plate.
Under MLB rules, a run scored without the runner tagging up after a fly ball can be nullified if the defensive team appeals for a "fourth out" before leaving the field. The Blue Jays did not make this appeal in time, and umpires awarded the run to the Red Sox.
"We kind of got a break there," said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. Blue Jays manager John Schneider expressed frustration, stating that plate umpire Charlie Ramos "waved off the run" and did not allow his team an opportunity to appeal. Schneider contended that his players were across the third base line before the umpire's decision.
"The rule is the rule. ... So if the run scores from third, no matter what he did tagging up, or not, before the out is recorded at first, the run counts," Schneider stated, adding that if the Blue Jays had thrown to third base instead of first, the situation might have been different.
The Red Sox, who had won 32 of 37 games entering Monday's contest but had lost their previous two, ultimately lost their third consecutive game, despite the benefit of the obscure rule. The run scored due to the error was their only one in the 3-1 loss to Toronto.
