Out of all the plays in the Baltimore Orioles’ 4-3 loss to Washington last night, none of them are scrutinized as much as a moment in the last of the tenth. Nevermind the strikeouts or anything else. But lots of people are talking about the contact play.
The Orioles of course had a ghost runner on second to start the inning (in the form of Jeremiah Jackson). He moved to third on a Jackson Holliday groundout. So the Birds had one out and the tying run at third. In extra innings.
The question in this situation is whether or not the team at bat has the contact play on. Meaning will the runner at third break for home on contact (at the crack of the bat). The alternative of course is waiting to see if it’s safe to run.
Taylor Ward grounded the ball to third, and in fact the contact play was on. Jackson was dead in the water at home plate. To make matters worse, Gunnar Henderson immediately got on base with a single – which would have tied the game had the runner held up at third.
In general I believe in playing conservatively in games. However this is situational baseball in a sense. If that exact same scenario (with a real runner having hit his was to third in lieu of a ghost runner) plays out in the third inning, there’s no reason to have the contact play on. Do teams (including the Orioles) do it? All the time. And it’s frustrating.
But you’re down by one in extra innings. The situations ARE NOT the same. You need one run to extend the game – and then let things lie where they may. Having the runner break for home on contact was the right move.
People may ask, why is it okay in extra’s but not earlier? When you play for one run, often you’re going to get one run (at best). Earlier in the game you might look for a big inning. Plus you have time to make your move to make up one run. Down one in the tenth, you need exactly one run to extend the game. It makes sense to run on contact there.
In anything, you can’t let the result dictate whether or not something was fundamentally sound. It’s very unfortunate when you do the right thing and it works to your detriment. But you can’t second-guess making the correct move. And having the runner go on contact was the correct move in that situation.
Birdland Crush 