Incredibly bizarre play at center of third straight Red Sox loss

The Boston Red Sox have been baseball’s best story all summer, going from cellar to skybox the last six weeks.

But on Monday night in Toronto, they were part of one of baseball’s weirdest stories of the season.

They fell to the Blue Jays 2-1 in a game in which their only run came after a 15-minute delay that included multiple conversations with both team managers and assistance from Major League Baseball’s office in New York City regarding one of the game’s most obscure rules.

With no outs and Anthony Seigler and Connor Wong on base after opening the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles, Nick Sogard rocketed a ball to first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who fielded the ball on a hop and threw to second. It was a force-out that only erased Wong, but the league-run video board at Rogers Centre showed two outs, and the press box initially announced a double play.

Seigler and Sogard appeared unaware there was only one out, but both men clarified postgame that was not the case and stressed there was “no excuse” for how they proceeded when Ceddanne Rafaela flied out to center. As Rafaela’s ball soared high into the air, game footage showed the scoreboard correcting from two outs to one mid-play.

Seigler raced home while Sogard found himself in an inning-ending double play; centerfielder Brett Bateman caught Rafaela’s ball and threw to second baseman Josh Smith, who threw to Guerrero at first, and both teams began leaving the field.

But as Red Sox position players took the field for the bottom of the inning and left-hander Jovani Morán began warming on the mound, the game screeched to a halt. The umpires conferred for several minutes, and spoke with Blue Jays manager John Schneider and coach DeMarlo Hale, and with Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy.

“It was a weird, weird situation where both sides seemed to be confused on the outs,” Tracy told reporters.

As the delay stretched into the double-digit minute mark, crew chief Chris Guccione took a deep, bracing breath before addressing the baffled crowd. He announced they were waiting on a time play “rule check” from the league’s replay operations center. Since Toronto never appealed at third, Seigler’s run counted even though he didn’t tag up.

Fifteen minutes after the top of the inning came to an end, Guccione again addressed the crowd, stating the run counted and the inning was over.

The league, invoking MLB rule 5.09(c)(4), determined Seigler had scored before the pickoff of Sogard. Rafaela received credit for a sacrifice fly and RBI on the 8-4-3 double play.

MLB rule 5.09(c)(4) states: “Appeal plays may require an umpire to recognize an apparent ‘fourth out.’ If the third out is made during a play in which an appeal play is sustained on another runner, the appeal play decision takes precedence in determining the out. If there is more than one appeal during a play that ends a half-inning, the defense may elect to take the out that gives it the advantage.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it personally,” Tracy said of the specific rule coming into play. “They’re very rare. But we saw one tonight.”

Red Sox starter Sonny Gray entered the series opener in possession of 14 wins, tied for his career high and leading the American League, but with a loss and no-decision in two prior starts against Toronto.

Gray dominated early, then worked around traffic in six innings of two-run ball. He yielded two earned runs on six hits, walked one and struck out four, on a season-high 99 pitches, 63 for strikes.

“I thought it was OK,” Gray said. “A little frustrated that I wasn’t able to keep it to one there in the sixth. And we just got beat.”

The Red Sox arrived in Toronto on their first multi-game losing streak since July 1. Blue Jays starter Jameson Taillon entered the contest with a 5.96 ERA in 16 starts, the first 15 with the Chicago Cubs before they designated him for assignment and dealt him to Toronto at the start of the month. The 34-year-old righty struggled to keep his strike percentage above 50% (34 of 61pitches) and issued three walks, including two in the top of the first, but the Red Sox made him look like a Cy Young Award candidate. Taillon held them to one hit and struck out three over four scoreless innings.

Taillon ranks in the 1st MLB percentile in barrel rate, and his 15.2 barrels-per-batted-ball percentage is the worst mark among 152 pitchers with a minimum of 200 batted-ball events this year. Yet the Red Sox only managed to hit two balls out of the infield.

The Blue Jays were forced to go to the bullpen when Taillon exited with right forearm discomfort.

Simeon Woods Richardson had no problem picking up where Taillon left off. He gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Sogard and Rafaela when he replaced Taillon in the top of the fifth, but escaped the jam thanks to a first-pitch groundout by newly-minted AL Player of the Week Wilyer Abreu.

Woods Richardson walked Willson Contreras to begin the sixth, then easily retired the next three men in order.

Charles McAdoo’s leadoff homer gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the fifth, and marked the third time in the last five games an opponent scored first on the Red Sox.

Things continued to go the Blue Jays’ way in the bottom of the sixth. The inning initially came to an end with George Springer ruled out trying to steal second, but Toronto challenged successfully. Andrés Giménez made the most of the second change, singling on a line drive to right. Abreu showed off the cannon that puts him in MLB’s 95th percentile in Arm Strength, but Wong couldn’t hold the ball in time to tag Springer.

After the game went from bad to embarrassing to bizarre in the top of the seventh, Seigler began the long-awaited bottom of the seventh with an error that allowed Brandon Valenzuela to reach base. Compounding the chaos was Wong, making a headfirst diving catch to get the next batter, Nathan Lukes, for a bunt-popout in foul territory.

Even benefitting from one of baseball’s most obscure rules couldn’t rouse the Red Sox lineup. Right-hander Tyler Rogers worked around a two-out walk to Masataka Yoshida to pitch a four-batter top of the eighth, and Louis Varland worked around Jarren Duran’s leadoff double to finish the Red Sox off in the ninth.

Boston batters tallied six hits, five walks and seven strikeouts.

The Red Sox are 64-54. Sunday marked their first time losing back-to-back games since July 1. They have now lost three straight, their longest skid since the four-game losing streak June 14-18 that included a sweep by the Blue Jays at Fenway Park.