Strange play in Red Sox-Rays Game 3 shows rule needs to be adjusted – the Athletic



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Not to sound like a cranky old reporter, but make me rewrite. The rule that prevented Yandy Díaz from scoring on Kevin Kiermaier’s strike into the gap from right center fielder in the 13th inning on Sunday night needs to be revised.

The referees called the game correctly, that is not in dispute. But the Rays were actually penalized when the ball bounced off the wall, hit the ground, then took off from the Red Sox’s Hunter Renfroe right hip and landed over the fence.

Díaz, who ran first on a 3-2 pitch from Nick Pivetta, would have scored easily if Renfroe, one of the best defensive right-backs in the game, had played the ball cleanly. But because Renfroe inadvertently dropped the ball against the wall, the game was ruled as a brace, forcing Kiermaier to come back on second and Díaz on third.

Would the result have changed if Díaz had scored to give the Rays a 5-4 lead, with Kiermaier advancing to third place? Obviously, there is no way to find out. Yet even if the round had ended the same way, with Pivetta on strikes with Mike Zunino, the Red Sox should have faced more pressure in the lower half, trailing by a point instead of continuing with the score tied.

It turned out that the Red Sox wide receiver



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