Wednesday’s matchup between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants featured a costly catcher’s interference call that ended up resulting in three runs for the offense, and an ejection for an angry manager.
The play occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning with Padres ace Yu Darvish on the mound. Darvish allowed a two-out base hit to right field.
It looked like the Padres would get out of the inning with only one run allowed after star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. threw out a runner trying to score on the play. The tag was made by Padres catcher Gary Sanchez, which many thought was the end of the inning.
Gold glover doesn’t matter what position he plays pic.twitter.com/XAoMYcwvIA
— Borna Nazari (@thehogwatch) June 22, 2023
However, the play would be reviewed and ultimately overturned, as it was determined to be catcher’s interference on Sanchez for standing in the baseline.
For the second day in a row, we have a catcher's interference leading to a run on a play that looked like an easy out call.
And for the second day in a row, an unhappy manager is tossed. pic.twitter.com/4oETXd8uOJ
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) June 22, 2023
This led to Padres manager Bob Melvin losing his cool, arguing with home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott and ultimately being ejected for doing so.
Bob Melvin was HEATED after an out at the plate was overturned 😳 pic.twitter.com/Gq1OiIGDcw
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 22, 2023
Many around the MLB world had plenty to say about both the call and Melvin’s ejection, taking to social media to voice their opinions.
AGAIN—2nd night in a row—that a run is granted on catcher interference. Fernando Tatis had this guy gunned down by 6 friggin feet. The ball is allowed to take the catcher off the line or in front of the plate. What in the world are we doing here? Making people not want to bet MLB https://t.co/CyR8FlQWTZ
— Sloan Piva (@SloanPiva) June 22, 2023
Another night, another interesting call at the plate…
Bob Melvin was not happy and got ejected. The Giants are up 2-0 and still pushing! pic.twitter.com/NzSjI3fEHK
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) June 22, 2023
Bob Melvin was ejected after Gary Sanchez was called for blocking the plate
Seems to be a call the league is enforcing now pic.twitter.com/ZnfOiSmGd7
— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) June 22, 2023
Bob Melvin was NOT HAPPY. 😅
(🎥: @NBCSGiants)pic.twitter.com/Rf2kxQTlhh
— theScore (@theScore) June 22, 2023
apparently this is illegal in baseball. gary sanchez learn the rules!!!
holy cow be better @mlb https://t.co/t1bgd1Vp2B
— Borna Nazari (@thehogwatch) June 22, 2023
The call would go on to have a huge impact on the rest of the inning. The Giants would go on to string together two more two-out hits, scoring two more runs in the inning to take a 4-0 lead.
Get the runs in, get the votes in 🗳️
VOTE: https://t.co/etev0TBTK2 pic.twitter.com/MLRWto8Vur
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 22, 2023
It is the second straight day that we have seen a catcher’s interference call in a big moment of a game. Tuesday’s game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers actually ended on an extremely controversial interference call.
This Elvis Andrus (Chicago) run ended up counting as the winning run after Texas catcher Jonah Heim was called for blocking the plate. Is this the worst catcher interference call of all time?#MLB #WhiteSox #Rangers #catcherinterference #winningrun pic.twitter.com/aNfdIZxjAw
— Sports Betting Intel (@SB_Intel) June 21, 2023
Catcher’s interference has been a call that has been happing more and more in recent years. We saw 74 last season, and we are only at 54 at the point of the MLB season.
Catcher's interference calls per MLB season:
23 <— 2012
25 <— 2013
23 <— 2014
33 <— 2015
41 <— 2016
43 <— 2017
41 <— 2018
61 <— 2019
62 <— 2021
74 <— 2022
54 <— 2023 already!— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 21, 2023
It seems like catchers will certainly need to adjust how they are positioned if they want to avoid this call in the future.
[The Comeback on Twitter] Photo Credit: NBC Sports Bay Area
