A rare and astonishing play occurred during the seventh inning of Thursday’s matchup between the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners.
The peculiar play unfolded when Royals outfielder MJ Melendez made a diving attempt to catch a sinking line drive hit by Seattle’s Dylan Moore into left field.
While Melendez managed to get his glove on the ball, he couldn’t complete the catch, leading to confusion on the field.
Moore was running towards first base, but inexplicably turned around believing that Melendez successfully caught the ball.
Melendez’s teammates, recognizing what happened, frantically urged him to throw to first base. Responding to their pleas, Melendez recovered the ball and fired it to Kansas City’s Matt Duffy after Moore had already begun his journey back towards home plate.
First base umpire John Libka called Moore out for “abandonment,” a ruling that hinged on Rule 5.09 (b) (1) and (2), which states that a runner can be declared out if they leave their base path and head for their dugout or position under the mistaken belief that there is no further play.
You don't see a 7-3 putout every day! pic.twitter.com/lcZMpEgWoz
— MLB (@MLB) August 17, 2023
It’s certainly a play that you don’t see happen every day.
Fortunately, the Mariners were able to overcome the baserunning blunder and came away with an impressive 4-2 comeback victory.
What’s the single worst baserunning mistake you’ve ever seen?