The Arizona Diamondbacks faced off against the Texas Rangers in Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night. And Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker made a brutal baserunning mistake early on in the game that could certainly come back and cost them.
Walker led off the bottom of the second inning with a double, putting the Diamondbacks in a great position to take an early lead in the game.
Tommy Pham then came to the plate and hit a line drive through the infield into right field for a single. As Walker began to advance on the hit, Diamondbacks third base coach Tony Perezchica began to wave Walker home. He then quickly put up the stop sign to get him to stay at third base.
Walker ignored the sign, taking off for home. He was greeted with a terrific throw from Rangers right fielder Adolis García, which got to the plate before Walker. He was nailed at the plate after the tag from Rangers catcher Jonah Heim.
Christian Walker NOPED the stop sign and lost the battle vs Adolis García's rocket arm. ⚾️ #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/ljpnQg6Tzp
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 31, 2023
It’s a mistake that simply can’t happen with no outs in the inning. They would have had runners on first and third with no outs if Walker had used the sign. This angle better shows Walker ignoring the sign on his way to home plate.
Christian Walker had his head down and never looked back up to see the stop sign
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/SF65UFFucI
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 31, 2023
Instead, they would go on to be held scoreless in the inning after an excellent play from the Rangers defense got them out of the inning.
The second crazy defensive play by the Rangers in the inning and the game stays scoreless going into the 3rd inning. ⚾️🔥 #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/Nsp36OSNxO
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 31, 2023
Fans took notice of Walker’s costly mistake and blasted him on social media.
Christian Walker might have costed the DBacks a valuable scoring chance there. He's not the most nimble force, wasn't wise to try to go there.
— Greg Peterson (@GUnit_81) October 31, 2023
Adolis Garcia with a big out after Christian Walker blew through the stop sign 😳
(via @MLBONFOX)
— Yahoo Sports MLB (@MLByahoosports) October 31, 2023
Adolis García throws out Christian Walker trying to score from second on a no-out single. D-backs are dangerous because of chaos, but can also be, um, snakebit, too.
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) October 31, 2023
OMG Christian Walker goes past the stop sign at 3rd (he only saw the wave & didn’t look back up) as Adolis Garcia throws out Walker at the plate from right!!!! #WorldSeries #EmbraceTheChaos #GoAndTakeIt pic.twitter.com/62nZxHLwh8
— Juan RC 🇵🇷 (@elclass_king) October 31, 2023
Arizona 3rd base coach watching Christian Walker blow through the stop sign pic.twitter.com/cTsyOGfGmU
— (•)(•) (@Bet3lgeu5e) October 31, 2023
Yeah Christian Walker ran through the stop sign. But it was a late stop sign.
Also, if you're a 3B coach, how are you thinking for even a second that sending this guy home on a hard hit liner to right field is a good idea? pic.twitter.com/ee6OKBRgUc
— 𝕏 legend VinRBI (@VinRBI) October 31, 2023
Perezchica also obviously deserves some blame for this play, as he initially waved him home before putting on the stop sign. But Walker had to have his head up in that situation to pick up on the sign change.
Regardless, this kind of mistake is certainly a bad look considering the Diamondbacks as a team are widely regarded as one of the best baserunning teams in all of baseball.
