May 24, 2013

BP Unfiltered

Justin Grimm Steals an Out

by Jason Cole

With the Mariners rallying against Rangers starter Justin Grimm in the second inning on Friday night, catcher Jesus Sucre stepped into the box for his first major-league plate appearance. Sucre, a career .255/.292/.338 hitter over eight minor-league seasons, bounced into a 3-6-3 double play.

It appears as though Mitch Moreland’s foot may have come off the bag before catching the throw. If so, tough luck for Sucre in his first MLB at-bat. But sometimes umpires can miss that on bang-bang plays, and this one was close. Let’s take a look to see just how close it was.

Yep, it does look like Moreland’s foot was off the bag. First base umpire Jeff Nelson just missed this one. Hey...why does Grimm appear to be pulling something out of his glove there?

Oh.

We could tell you what happened, but it's better if you hear it from Rangers broadcasters Steve Busby and Tom Grieve:

Update:

 

Scoring on Sucre's double play has been changed from 3-6-3 to 3-6-1, which is amusing.

— Larry Stone (@StoneLarry) May 25, 2013

Update 2: Sucre just hit into a real double play.

Thanks to Ben Lindbergh for A/V assistance.

 

 

 

 

Jason Cole is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
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