Carlos Santana was faced with a couple of problems as he sprinted toward home plate in the eighth inning on Tuesday night. Never mind that Blue Jays catcher Josh Thole was moving in front of the plate, there was a bat on the ground in Santana’s path.
The relay throw from left fielder Melky Cabrera forced Thole to shift to his left, Santana ran by the bat and attempted to slide to the inside of the plate and the Indians were denied a critical run in a 5-4 loss to Toronto at Rogers Centre. Thole received the throw and applied the tag just in time, ending what could have been a game-changing inning for the Tribe.
“It was a great throw,” Santana said. “I don’t know if he tried to block the plate. I tried to be safe. It was a great moment, a great situation. I tried. Melky made a great throw and the bat was in the middle.”
It was a crucial moment that ultimately pushed Cleveland into the loss column, but the Indians tried to claw their way out of the hole dug by starter Justin Masterson. The Tribe simply waited too long to begin its push against Toronto knuckleballer R. A. Dickey, and the result was a defeat in the opener of this three-game set north of the border.
Cleveland (18-21) has dropped just four of its past 11 games.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, Indians manager Terry Francona praised the efforts of Major League Baseball to try to better define the rules for plays at the plate. This season, MLB introduced new guidelines for both catchers and baserunners in an effort to cut down on the number of collisions and injuries on such plays.
Francona has been clear about his belief that a gray area still exists when it comes to where a catcher is allowed to be positioned prior to receiving the ball. With Toronto clinging to a one-run lead in the eighth inning, Yan Gomes delivered a two-out single to left field off Brett Cecil, and Thole appeared to move in front of Santana before catching the relay throw from Cabrera.
Francona was asked if he felt that particular play was questionable.
“I was watching the throw,” Francona said. “I actually thought the ball was going to hit Carlos. I think Carlos was more happy to dodge the bat than anything. I think the throw kind of took Thole towards it there.”
After Santana was ruled out to an eruption of cheers from the home crowd, Francona jogged onto the field to talk things over with home-plate umpire Jordan Baker. The manager could have challenged the out call — not Thole’s positioning — but he did not receive the go-ahead from Cleveland’s replay coordinator.
The play went unchallenged and the Blue Jays held on for the win.
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