The Boston Red Sox dropped their third game on Monday night, falling 2-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays in a matchup at Rogers Centre that featured a rare and confusing baserunning sequence in the seventh inning, according to Yahoo Sports.
Bizarre Seventh-Inning Ruling Punishes Toronto
The game turned on a confounding play with Toronto leading 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two men on and no outs, as reported by Yahoo Sports. Nick Sogard hit a sharp ball to Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who fielded it on a hop and threw to second base to record a force out. Although the league-controlled video board and press box announcements indicated there were two outs, Sogard remained on first base while Anthony Seigler advanced to third.
When the next batter, Ceddanne Rafaela, hit a fly ball to center field, both runners took off on contact assuming two outs. Sogard was promptly picked off to end the inning in an 8-4-3 double play. Following a lengthy conversation between umpires and managers Chad Tracy and John Schneider that delayed the game for more than 15 minutes, the crew invoked the “apparent fourth out” rule. The complex ruling penalized Toronto for failing to appeal before their infielders left the playing field, allowing Seigler to score and cutting Boston’s deficit to 2-1. Official scoring ruled the sequence a sacrifice fly and RBI preceding the double play.
Offensive Struggles and Pitching Performances
Boston’s offense sputtered throughout the night, finishing 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine baserunners while managing only one extra-base hit. Veteran pitcher Jameson Taillon entered for Toronto and tossed four shutout innings, allowing just one hit before exiting due to forearm discomfort. Simeon Woods Richardson then pitched three scoreless frames, yielding only the controversial seventh-inning run before turning the game over to relievers Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland.
Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray worked six innings, surrendering two runs on six hits, but took the loss to drop his record to 14-3 on the season. Toronto scored its runs in very different ways. In the fifth, rook
Late-Inning Opportunities Fall Short
The Red Sox mounted late threats in each of the final two frames but failed to capitalize. In the eighth inning, Masataka Yoshida drew a two-out walk and pinch-runner Eli White stole second base, but Tyler Rogers struck out Caleb Durbin to extinguish the threat. In the ninth, a slumping Jarren Duran doubled off Louis Varland—marking Boston’s sole extra-base hit of the game—and advanced to third on a Seigler sacrifice bunt. Varland recovered to strike out pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio and induced a groundout from Sogard on a full count to lock down the win for Toronto.