Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez was thrown out at third base after running into foul territory to dodge a teammate's bat at a critical moment in Wednesday night's game against the visiting New York Yankees.
It happened in the bottom of the tenth inning as Rodriguez started the inning at second base and moved over to third on a single by Cal Raleigh, allowing Mariners batter Randy Arozarena to come up with nobody out and a great chance to drive in the tying run. On the 2-2 pitch, Randy swung and let go of his bat as he missed the ball for strike three. The bat flew down the third base line towards Rodriguez, who ran into foul territory to get out of the way.
Unfortuantely, as he jogged further into foul territory feeling relieved that he avoided the flying bat, Rodriguez mistakenly thought it was a foul ball situation where he could return to third base without an issue. In reality, Rodriguez was so far off third base that he left himself exposed to be picked off. An alert third baseman, Jazz Chisholm, called for the throw from catcher Austin Wells. Rodriguez realized his baserunning mistake and tried to get back to third, but it was too late. Chisholm tagged Rodriguez as he slid back to third from foul territory in what was an unusual sight.
The Mariners are absolutely hilarious on the bases, Julio gets thrown out dodging Arozarena's bat pic.twitter.com/3EDWRk1Sr5
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) September 19, 2024
The strange sequence resulted in a strikeout-pickoff double play, leaving the Mariners feeling silly. Justin Turner followed up by striking out to end the game.
We have seen plenty of flying bats and baserunning blunders in MLB, but never one directly leading to the other. This was so crazy that we may never see it again in our lifetime.
The Yankees clinched a playoff spot with the 2-1 victory and now hold a 5-game lead in the American League East with 10 games left in the regular season. Meanwhile, the Mariners are 5 games back of the Astros in the American League West and 3 games out of a wild card playoff spot.
[@cjzero]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
