Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas argues for fan interference following a game-tying home run from Diamondbacks outfielder, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. A game-tying home run in Saturday’s Nationals vs. Diamondbacks game sparked a controversy over fan interference.
FeaturedMLBBy Michael Dixon on

We can say this much for Saturday night’s game between the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks — it was not boring.

It looked like it would be a rather simple win for Arizona. The Diamondbacks led 3-2 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, then scored three more runs to open up a seemingly safe 6-2 lead going into the ninth inning. But as it turned out, that’s just when things started to get good.

Keibert Ruiz led off the top half of the ninth inning with a solo homer. Then, after Stone Garrett and Dominic Smith got out, Alex Call walked and Michael Chavis singled. Call and Chavis scored on a single from Ildemaro Vargas, cutting the score to 6-5. Then, down to his final strike, Lane Thomas drilled a two-run home run to give Washington a 7-6 lead.

The Diamondbacks were down, but not out.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. led off the bottom half of the ninth inning and drove the first pitch he saw against Washington’s Kyle Finnegan to deep left-center field. Then, things got interesting. 

Garrett went back to potentially field the ball. But before he had a chance, a fan sitting in the front row caught the ball.

It was ruled a home run, which triggered a replay.

A fan can not reach onto the field of play to field a ball. If he was ruled to have done that, there would be one of two rulings. If it was deemed that Garrett could have caught the ball, the hitter would be ruled out. In the event that the fan did reach over but the ball was still ruled uncatchable, it would be the umpire’s discretion. More often than not, that ends up in a double.

But upon further review, the ruling was not only upheld, but confirmed. Gurriel’s game-tying home run stood.

As would be expected, the close and controversial ruling triggered differing opinions.

Now, one may ask, how would such a wild, controversial game finally end? Unfortunately (especially for Nationals fans), rather blandly.

Christian Walker singled, then moved to second on a Corbin Carroll walk. A sacrifice bunt from Dominic Fletcher moved Walker to third and Carroll to second, respectively. Washington then walked Geraldo Perdomo to load the bases.

For the pitching team, loading the bases is a calculated risk. Yes, it sets up a double play. But the pitcher has to throw strikes. Finnegan couldn’t do that. Pinch hitter Pavin Smith worked a 3-1 count against Finnegan, then took ball four, which was well inside, for the game-winning walk.

A more fitting end to a game like that would have been another disputed home run call, or maybe a bang-bang play at the plate.

But anticlimactic ending aside, we doubt anyone who watched this game will forget it any time soon.

[Talking Baseball, Photo Credit: MASN]

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