TORONTO — Ernie Clement swerved to his right and dodged a tag attempt by Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who threw to first, assuming the Toronto Blue Jays baserunner would be called out for leaving the baseline.
Not so fast.
Instead of an inning-ending double play, umpires ruled that Clement was safe, and it turned out to be the key play as Toronto rallied for a 6-4 victory Sunday.
The Orioles led 4-1 in the sixth when Clement reached on Henderson’s fielding error. With runners at first and third, Brandon Valenzuela hit a bouncer up the middle.
Henderson fielded the ball and reached out to tag Clement, who got well out of the way, and Henderson threw to first to retire Valenzuela.
Second-base umpire Nic Lentz ruled Clement safe, saying the runner was getting out of the way to allow Henderson to field the ball and not trying to avoid a tag.
“The runner has the right to establish his basepath, and so Clement had established his basepath to avoid the fielder from potential interference,” Lentz told a pool reporter. “Even though Henderson reached out for a tag, Clement’s basepath was already established out there, going to the second base, so therefore it was not out of the baseline.”
Henderson called that decision “super frustrating.”
“That was a new one for me,” Henderson said. “That was definitely, I felt like, not a great call.”
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz came out to argue and said the umpires told him Henderson didn’t make enough of a tag attempt.
“I think when you stick your glove out to tag somebody, that’s an attempted tag,” Albernaz said. “There’s no rule about how far you have to extend your arm to tag somebody.”
Kazuma Okamoto, Andres Giménez and Nathan Lukes all followed with RBI hits to give Toronto the lead.
Crew chief and plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt said Clement moving out of Henderson’s path was “a very gentlemanly thing to do.”
“He was getting out of the way to allow the fielder to make the play towards first base,” Wendelstedt said.
Orioles right-hander Shane Baz exited after the hits from Okamoto and Giménez. Baz yelled at the umpires as he walked off the field.
“The only reason I’m not going to talk about that play is because I will get fined,” Baz said afterward. “That’s the only reason.”
The Orioles were further frustrated when, in the ninth, Jackson Holliday was called out for leaving the baseline between home and first as he tried to avoid a tag from pitcher Louis Varland.
“The runner had not established his basepath, and then he deviated more than 3 feet to avoid that tag,” Wendelstedt explained. “That’s when I called him out.”
