There were 42,511 fans at Rogers Centre Monday night, plus both teams, MLB officials and ballpark staff, and every single one of them was confused by one play in the seventh inning of Toronto's 2-1 win over Boston.
With two outs briefly showing on the scoreboard, Boston's Ceddanne Rafaela popped out to Blue Jays center fielder Brett Bateman, and the Red Sox believed the inning was over.
Bateman knew better. There was actually only one out, and he threw to first to double off Boston shortstop Nick Sogard, who never bothered to tag up.
Because Red Sox second baseman Anthony Seigler also thought that pop out ended the inning, he ran home from third without tagging up either.
Home plate umpire Charlie Ramos initially waved off Seigler's run. Then MLB officials in New York got involved during a lengthy review, and the call flipped in Boston's favor, cutting Toronto's lead to 2-1.
"That's a timed play, meaning it's not a force play," crew chief Chris Guccione explained after the game. "In this case, being a timed play, the runner crossed before the appeal play was made at first base."
Why Schneider still disputes the ruling entirely
Guccione said Toronto needed to appeal Seigler's missed tag at third before the half-inning officially ended, which happens the moment infielders cross the foul line heading back to the dugout.
"After consulting with MLB, they told me that all of my players were across the third-base line before Charlie waved off the run, which I 100 per cent disagree with," John Schneider said.
Schneider pointed to a practical wrinkle in the sequence.
"I don't know if Guerrero is that fast after he got the ball at first," Schneider said, "so we weren't given an opportunity to appeal to third. Going forward when that play happens again in the next 100 years, if it's us, we will record the lead out at third."
Adding to the confusion, Rogers Centre runs two separate scoreboard systems. The 300-level ribbon screens belong to the Blue Jays and are unofficial, while the main centerfield screen ties directly into MLB's official scoreboard.
Guccione said the scoreboard confusion wasn't really the point.
"I didn't even know until an inning later that there was some confusion with the scoreboard," he said. "It's our responsibility as umpires to understand how many outs there are, the correct count."
It's a bit like watching two people argue over a math problem while a broken calculator sits right there on the table, everyone assuming the display was the actual source of the mistake.
Toronto still won, 2-1, but this one will be replayed in rules meetings for a while.
Do you agree with the umpires' final ruling on this bizarre seventh-inning play?
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