The Seattle Mariners’ game Wednesday against the Athletics provided some education on the rules of baseball on one of the weirder plays you’ll ever see – and it came at the Mariners’ expense.
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Athletics right fielder Carlos Cortes shot a 107.8 mph line drive right back at Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, but the ball disappeared. The reason? It actually went in between the buttons of Gilbert’s jersey.
Gilbert looked around for the ball, then realized it was actually in his jersey and retrieved it.
Surely that would be an out, right? Guess again.
Per MLB rules, a catch is ruled when a fielder secures possession of a ball in flight in their hand or glove and then firmly hold it, so long as they do not use their cap or any other part of their uniform in gaining possession. With the ball being lodged in part of Gilbert’s uniform to allow him to gain possession of the ball, it therefore resulted in a dead ball and Cortes being ruled safe at first base with a single.
The truly unfortunate part of it all for the Mariners is that the Cortes “hit” gave the A’s the bases loaded with no outs, and Tyler Soderstrom followed up on the very next pitch with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring a run. The A’s would add another run on a Jeff McNeil RBI single to take a 2-0 lead before the Mariners had their first trip to the plate, though Seattle got one run back in the bottom of the first.
Actually, there’s even more misfortune on this particular play. The same thing happened to then-Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta in a 2017 game, but it was incorrectly ruled an out – possibly because Pivetta was able to quickly get the ball out of his jersey and start running off the field before the umpires had time to consider talking it over.
Gilbert, by the way, had to be checked out by a trainer after taking the liner to his midsection before continuing the game.
The Mariners are looking to stave off being swept in three games at home by the American League West-leading Athletics in Wednesday’s series finale at T-Mobile Park. Following losses to the A’s on Monday and Tuesday, the Mariners are 10-15 to start the season, while the A’s are 13-11.
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