Calling this a Little League blunder insults children. Seriously. The Pittsburgh Pirates rolled into the Bronx on Monday for a three-game set, and the home crowd got a comedy show before they even finished their first beer.
Bottom of the first. One out. Runner on first. Paul Goldschmidt chops a routine grounder toward the left side. It’s a textbook, inning-ending double play. Until it wasn’t.
Pirates third baseman Nick Gonzales tried to glove it. He failed. The ball clanked off his mitt and trickled into shallow left field. Enter Bryan Reynolds. The left fielder scooped the ball and prepared to fire home to freeze Ben Rice at third. Instead, Reynolds spiked the ball directly into the dirt. Right in front of his own toes.
Rice didn’t hesitate. He trotted home. Easy run. The official scorer had a headache. Gonzales got hit with a fielding error, Reynolds got a throwing error, and the Yankees had a 1-0 lead.
It gets worse. That double play would have ended the frame. Instead, the door stood wide open. Cody Bellinger singled to put runners on the corners. Then, Jazz Chisholm stepped up. He didn’t miss. Chisholm launched a missile into the right-field seats, clearing the bases and putting New York up 4-0.
Pity Braxton Ashcraft. The starting pitcher watched his ERA get shredded because of baseball’s bizarre scoring rules. Since you can’t assume a double play, three of those four runs went down as earned. Life is unfair. Baseball is worse.
