The Chicago White Sox found an absolutely bizarre way to lose another game.
Trailing by two runs, the Sox had two on and one out in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Andrew Benintendi hit a popup, bringing the infield fly rule into effect.
Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who was shaded closer to the second-base bag, had to try to avoid the runner on second — Andrew Vaughn — before making the catch in the infield grass.
Vaughn, who was on his way back to the second, was ruled out for interference. The game ended with the odd double play as the Orioles won 8-6 in front of 15,843.
“I was reading the play, saw the popup, know it was in infield fly,” Vaughn said. “Read it, started shuffling back and he kind of breezed by me on the right side. And then, yeah, he made the play and the umpire called me out.”
Crew Chief Adrian Johnson explained to a pool reporter: “The ball was hit and infield fly was ruled on the play. (Third-base umpire) Junior (Valentine) came in with interference on Andrew Vaughn, the runner on second base. Actually the shortstop made contact with him, so with the interference, that’s an out. And you still have the infield fly, and that’s an out also.”
Added Valentine: “There doesn’t have to actually even be contact. If he hinders the fielder in the attempt to field a batted ball, intent is not required and it’s interference.”
Sox manager Pedro Grifol understood the rule. He just didn’t like it.
“I get that it’s an infield fly rule,” Grifol said. “I get that it was called right away. I understand it. But I don’t have to like it. I just don’t like the rule.
“I think that rule needs to be to a point where if that fielder is impeded by the runner to catch the baseball, then I can see it. But in this situation, he’s camped in the middle of the infield with his arms out, waiting for the ball to come down.”
The Sox entered the ninth behind 8-2. The first six batters reached to pull within 8-6.
Yennier Cano struck out pinch hitter Zach DeLoach and Craig Kimbrel entered to face Benintendi, setting the stage for the strange finish.
“If you see the interference, you call it,” Valentine said.
The Sox fell to 21 games under .500 for the first time this season. At 15-36, they are off to their worst 51-game start in franchise history.
They found a unique way to add to the historically bad start.
“They called the rule correctly,” Grifol said. “They called the play correctly based on the rules. I just don’t like the rule. No game should end like that. That’s just my opinion.
“The whole rule, they need to take a look at that rule and maybe rewrite it.”
