In the top of the fourth inning of the Minnesota Twins’ loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, Twins starter Joe Ryan attempted a unique Hail Mary.
With Brewers starting center fielder Jackson Chourio having led off the inning with a walk, stolen second base and been advanced to third on Christian Yelich’s groundout, William Contreras stepped to the plate with an RBI chance. He promptly hit a sacrifice fly to the outfield, deep enough for Chourio to be able to tag up and score the first run of the game.
Unable to do much else on the play, Ryan improvised, and tried to get into Chourio’s eye line to throw up a stop sign. Pretending to be the third base coach – and hoping Chourio was not scrutinizing the uniform color of the signee too heavily – Ryan was hoping he could dupe the runner into staying on third, now with two outs, and keeping his shut-out going. After all, both teams wear blue.
Extreme Long Shot Was Unsuccessful
It was worth a try.
Unfortunately for Ryan and the Twins, however, the play did not work. And even if it had, it would have proved to be inconsequential in the wider context of the game.
Chourio’s tag plated the first run of the game, yet a complete bullpen implosion would make it moot. Sixteen more runs would follow as the Brewers ran out 17-6 winners, a massively lopsided margin of victory that would have been even more so had they not given four runs back in the bottom of the ninth by having position player Jake Bauers throw some beachballs.
Nevertheless, for a moment there, the game was fun for the Twins. Until it soon wasn’t.
Ryan Tries To Have Fun Out There
An extrovert personality in a sea of emotional repression, Ryan has always been partial to a bit of whimsy, with his reactions and routines making him a stand-out character on the field and in the Twins’ dug-out. That said, had this play actually worked, it would have been interesting to see the reactions from the players, umpires and wider baseball family alike, given the often-fickle nature of baseball’s unwritten rules.
Back in May 2007, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees was said to have broken those rules in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. On an infield pop-up, Rodriguez – running the bases – was thought to have called off Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clarke, pretending to be the defensive shortstop and allowing the ball to drop safely.
Rodriguez – who denied doing so, despite the Blue Jays’ insistence that he did – was never a popular character, and his infraction took place in the top of the ninth of a close road game. Many of the circumstances were different, not least of which was the identity of the prankster involved. As it happens, Chourio was not deceived, the Twins gained nothing, and the debate remains an imaginary one.
Considering the length of some games and the sheer enormity of the schedule, Major League Baseball should be a sport that lends itself well to player hijinks. In practice, only the consequence-free pranks tend to be deemed acceptable. Then again, if you are Adrian Beltre, sometimes not even that is fine.
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