The Seattle Mariners defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Sunday. Seattle outfielder threw Tampa runner Johnny Field out at home to end the game in one of the worst baserunning mistakes you’ll ever see.
With Field on first, Carlos Gomez hit a blooper into shallow right. While Haniger didn’t catch the ball, he did block it. That enabled him more than enough time to get up and throw Field out at the plate, even bobbling the ball in the process.
Following the game, Field noted that Quataro had thought the ball got further away from Haniger.
Video: Rays OF Johnny Field says final out at home was “unfortunate,” that third base coach Matt Quatraro thought ball had gotten away from Mariners’ Haniger more than it did. pic.twitter.com/Fbk0dhxC0j
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) June 10, 2018
That does make things a little better. The only problem is that Quataro was looking straight into right field as Field was rounding third.
Mitch Haniger is already in the throwing motion with Field maybe three steps beyond third base. pic.twitter.com/lfnpBvRAz7
— Joe Veyera (@JoeVeyera) June 10, 2018
The general rule in that spot is to force the defense to make a perfect play. If your runner will easily score after even the slightest mistake, then you send him. Clearly, that was not the case here.
Haniger didn’t make anything close to a perfect play and still threw Field out with plenty of room to spare.