Runin with wall benefits Oakland
Here’s the difference between a firstplace team and a team that has lost 19 straight road games:
Player on firstplace team hits ball to deep center field. Thinks he’s out. Defender snags ball in glove. Collides with wall. Then drops ball.
With the naked eye and an upclose view, it wouldn’t be stunning if many baseball fans thought it was a catch. But thanks to today’s technology and the review process, not to mention the good ol’ rule book, it became a live ball and tworun triple.
It was the play that decided Oakland’s 40 victory over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, a bummer for Arizona center fielder Ketel Marte and a boon for Mark Canha of the A’s.
“I thought I was out,” Canha said. “Crazy play. I had no idea when they went to replay what they were going to do. I’m glad it worked out.”
With the twogame sweep at the Coliseum, the A’s have won six of seven and nine of 13 and moved a seasonhigh 11 games above .500 with the Royals the next opponent in a fourgame series through the weekend.
Sean Manaea pitched six splendid innings of twohit ball
and was pulled because he threw 111 pitches. Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino and Jake Diekman wrapped up the A’s seventh shutout of the season.
For a few fleeting moments, Canha thought he had been a rally killer. Between first and second base, he pulled off his helmet and was preparing to take his place in the field.
“I was getting ready to spike the hell out of that just because it has been a frustrating couple of days,” Canha said, “and that would’ve been the tip of the iceberg.”
After he noticed Marte hadn’t secured the ball, Canha put the helmet back on and sprinted to third base. Tony Kemp and Elvis Andrus scored, and instead of a scoreless inning, the A’s were on the board with two.
According to Rule 5.09(a)(1), “In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional.”
With Marte, he appeared to feel the ball coming out of his
glove after knocking into the wall and reached around his back with his bare hand. Unable to secure the ball, Marte dropped it.
The umpires ruled the ball was live. Arizona challenged the call, but the review confirmed it because, according to the ruling from New York, Marte “did not demonstrate firm and secure possession of the ball throughout the catch. Additionally, the momentum of the catch had not ended prior to the ball coming
out.”
“Once he hits the wall, he’s got to come out of that in control of it, and he wasn’t. So I don’t think it was really too hard a call for them,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “They made the right call.”
Poor Matt Peacock. The Diamondbacks’ pitcher was thrilled when thinking his teammate had made an inningending catch, but was forced to face another batter, which was unfortunate for him.
Jed Lowrie smoked a come
backer that Peacock instinctively tried to stop with his bare hand. He didn’t. And got hurt. He tried a practice pitch and did nothing but show he no longer was equipped to pitch and exited the game.
The A’s scored three runs in the inning. For the heck of it, they scored once more in the seventh, showing again the baseball gods were on Canha’s side — the rally began when he hit seemingly a routine popup to second baseman Ildemaro Vargas, who lost the ball in the sun.
Base hit. Canha took third on Lowrie’s single and scored on Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly.
“I got really lucky,” Canha said. “A couple of times today, I got lucky.”