The Milwaukee Brewers sealed their second win of the season thanks to a change in the MLB rulebook concerning slides at second base.
With the Brewers up 6-4 in the top of the ninth with one out, the Astros had Colby Rasmus on first base with Jose Altuve at the plate. Altuve hit a grounder to second base that might have been too slow to double him up on. Scooter Gennett fielded it and quickly threw the ball to shortstop Jonathan Villar, who was covering second, to get the force out on Rasmus.
The throw beat Rasmus, who slid through the bag with a foot raised, but Villar made no attempt to throw the ball to first.
Due to the manner of Rasmus’ slide, though, Altuve was called out due to the league’s new automatic double-play rule.
The rule states, per MLB.com:
Under the new Rule 6.01(j), a runner will have to make a “bona fide slide,” which is defined as making contact with the ground before reaching the base, being able to and attempting to reach the base with a hand or foot, being able to and attempting to remain on the base at the completion of the slide (except at home plate) and not changing his path for the purpose of initiating contact with a fielder.
The umpiring crew, as well as the league after the play was reviewed, deemed Rasmus’ slide to be illegal, thus ending the game.
“My interpretation is that it’s a shame,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said, per Genaro C. Armas of the Associated Press. “The game ends on a play that the rule isn’t intended to protect.” Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle provided more from Hinch:
It was interpreted right, but the rule needs clarification because I think it’s wrong. Especially when you’re asking athletes to compete at the highest level as fast as they can in last-minute decisions. It is a joke we lost the game based on that when there wasn’t intent or contact. It was a baseball slide. …
These games count. If this happens in September everybody will freak out, too. But I’ll remember this one if it impacts us. He broke the rule. The rule was applied, and it’s a shame.
The decision also didn’t sit well with Hall of Fame pitcher and MLB Network analyst Pedro Martinez:
This is already the second instance this season where a game ended on an illegal slide rule. Jose Bautista’s slide during the top of the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays was deemed illegal:
The rule change stems from the famous Chase Utley incident during the 2015 National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. Utley seriously injured Ruben Tejada after he lunged into the Mets shortstop well past the second base bag.
Rasmus defended his slide after the game, per Kaplan.
Since I got into this game we’ve been taught how to play and to me that was very mild of a slide, so it’s kind of hard. It’s so bang-bang. It’s quick and it happens fast. … There wasn’t anything malicious about that slide. I just picked my leg up and went on past the bag a little bit there. It’s crazy. They didn’t even attempt to make a throw, and they can end the game on that.
While neither Bautista’s nor Rasmus’ slide was as dangerous, the league deemed them questionable enough to enforce its new rule.
However, it looks like this change is meeting plenty of opposition in the pair of times that it has been used, especially because these slides didn’t look like they could have caused serious injury.
Instead, people like Blue Jays manager John Gibbons believe this kind of change will make players soft, via NESN:
It will be important for the league and its umpires to draw the line as to what can be considered a slide that invokes the automatic double-play rule. Simply calling both offensive players out because of a hard slide does too much to benefit the defense, as there could be no possible way a baserunner could disturb a double-play attempt.
Once a complete guideline is set, players will be able to understand the rule better and adjust their play to avoid the call, and this rule won’t cause as much of a problem.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com