It hasn’t been a good few weeks for the Pittsburgh Pirates and touching first base. On May 27, Pirates’ first baseman Will Craig committed one of the most remarkable blunders in MLB history, chasing the Cubs’ Javier Baez back to home instead of just stepping on first, which led to a Chicago run. On Tuesday, the Pirates’ lack of touching first base bit them from the opposite direction, with third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes’ home run off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Walker Buehler turned into an out on appeal thanks to him missing first base. Here’s the home run, via Justin Groc on Twitter:
It definitely was fair… even after review. He just didn’t step on first. pic.twitter.com/OeUImxkkml
— Justin Groc (@jgroc) June 8, 2021
Here’s the out call, with even the Pirates’ broadcasters initially thinking it was called a foul ball before realizing it was an out call about Hayes missing first:
Called out. Wow. pic.twitter.com/99j5tft6lv
— Justin Groc (@jgroc) June 8, 2021
And here’s replay footage of him missing first:
Ke’Bryan Hayes gets a home run called back because he forgot to step on first. pic.twitter.com/0GFnKy8itW
— Justin Groc (@jgroc) June 8, 2021
The mistake here is at least partly understandable. Hayes hit that ball right down the line, and it was possible it was going to stay in the park; it was also possible it was going to go foul. The replay shows he was looking at the ball when he tried to round first, and he just didn’t step on first. But still, that’s quite the mistake, and it’s quite a way to have a home run nullified.
[Justin Groc on Twitter; photo of Hayes during a June 6 game from Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports]
