Infield grounder scores Orlando Arcia from first in chaotic mess
Jul 3, 2017, 2:10 PM | Updated: 2:11 pm
As promised, here is a look at @orlandoarcia9 scoring from 1st on a ball that never left the infield! #ThisIsMyCrew #MILvsBAL pic.twitter.com/0xNcjWLzGq
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 3, 2017
Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia has been a very fun baseball player in the past few days.
On Saturday, he took advantage of the distraction a foul ball created by stealing a scoop of a fan’s ice cream.
On Monday, Arcia scored from first base on a ball that never left the infield and there were no errors handed out on the play.
If that wasn’t bizarre enough, the starting pitcher Brent Suter was the hitter and Suter, a reliever, was making just his fourth career start in the majors.
With no outs and Arcia on first, a bunt was standard protocol, but Suter faked it and instead, chose to swing.
He got poor contract but that made it an awkward play for Baltimore Orioles shortstop Ruben Tejada, who couldn’t throw out Suter in time.
On the replay, you can see Arcia already off second base and on the way to third before Tejada even releases the ball.
As the Orioles defense scrambled to recover from being close to the plate because a possible bunt, both the Orioles catcher and third baseman sprinted back to third base for the throw.
Arcia was in time, but was running so hard that he slid off the bag and now had to run home.
That was actually good news for Arcia, though, because while the initial rundown protocol for Baltimore was sound, it got messy in a hurry.
Machado, the third baseman, wound up catching the throw and then beginning the rundown with the pitcher waiting at home. The trouble was, the catcher, former D-back Welington Castillo, was also near third, having no one behind the pitcher to continue the rundown.
As the pitcher tossed it back to Machado, Castillo was back at home on time, but the original fielder of the ball Tejada managed to be there in case Castillo wasn’t back in time. Since this all happened in the span of 13 seconds, there was no organization and Tejada and Castillo ran into each other attempting to field the ball and tag out Arcia and he scored.
As one would expect, Arcia was tired and his teammates rewarded him with several cups of water and fanned him down with towels.
