It’s tough for a game to end any worse than it did for the Blue Jays against the Rays on Tuesday night. With one out, Josh Donaldson had a broken-bat single up the middle to put two on for Bautista, who walked to load the bases for Edwin Encarnacion.
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Bautista said he didn’t think that contact – “let alone something so subtle and soft” – was illegal under the new rule.
However, the Rays challenged the play, arguing that Jose Bautista’s slide into second pushed Forsythe and forced the throw wide.
Having a late lead snatched away from you and losing on a technicality-no matter how legally rigorous the basis is-has got to be one of the most frustrating scenarios in sports, and Jays manager John Gibbons was just as pissed off as you’d expect him to be after the game.
“It’s really an embarrassment”, Gibbons said after the game.
The ruling gave the Rays their first victory of the season and marked a historic moment for a rule meant to keep middle infielders safe – while also angering and befuddling the Blue Jays. Bautista’s move didn’t threaten Forsythe’s health, but the replay showed he did enough to merit an interference call.
“I thought the umpire out there made the right call”, Gibbons said of second-base umpire Mike Everitt. The Athletics hit four home runs off him that night.
RHP Jake Odorizzi struck out 10 in 5 2/3 innings in his first start of the season, holding a potent Jays lineup to four hits and two runs (one earned) while walking only two.
Can the Toronto Blue Jays pull off a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays when the two meet tonight at 7:10PM ET?
“It turned the game into a joke”, Gibbons said.
Fantasy Impact: With a runner on in the eighth inning, Forsythe swatted a Brett Cecil offering into the right field seats to give the Rays the lead. Donaldson connected for a solo shot in the fifth inning, Saunders delivered a two-run homer in the fourth and Thole went deep on a third-inning drive that umpires initially ruled a double after a fan interfered by catching the ball before it reached the stands. He was efficient, needing just 91 pitches to get through the seventh inning. Maybe Bautista should have grabbed the base with his right hand and slid spikes first into the fielder keeping his feet below knee level.
“I felt like I slid directly at the bag”, he said. “Additionally, he did not engage in a bona fide slide as he did not attempt to remain on the base”. He hits into what could have been a double play, but Bautista’s slide breaks it up, and the throw to first is wild.
Corey Dickerson homered for the Rays, who avoided their second 0-3 start (2011).
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He also said he feels better than he did at the end of last season, which he ended with four straight starts of at least six innings, posting a 2-0 record and 1.35 ERA.
