Padres manager criticizes player who broke ‘unwritten rule’ by hitting a grand slam
Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., is having a sensational season in just his second year in the majors.
Tatis leads the majors in home runs (11), RBIs (28) and runs scored (22), but in San Diego’s 14-4 win over Texas on Monday night he did something that upset managers of both teams.
See if you can spot what Tatis did that irritated both Padres manager Jayce Tingler and Rangers skipper Chris Woodward:
Did you miss it? Tatis swung away at a 3-0 pitch with his team leading by seven runs in the eighth inning. That, it seems, violated one of baseball’s ridiculous “unwritten rules.”
Tingler, who is a Smithville native, said Tatis had a hold sign and should not have swung at the pitch.
“He’s young, a free spirit and focused and all those things. That’s the last thing that we’ll ever take away,” Tingler told reporters after the game. “It’s a learning opportunity and that’s it. He’ll grow from it. Just so you know, a lot of our guys have green light 3-0. But in this game in particular, we had a little bit of a comfortable lead. We’re not trying to run up the score or anything like that.”
Woodward mentioned the unwritten rules of baseball.
“I think there’s a lot of unwritten rules that are constantly being challenged in today’s game,” Woodward told reporters. “Yeah, I didn’t like it, personally. You’re up by seven in the eighth inning — it’s typically not a good time to swing 3-0. It’s kind of the way we were all raised in the game. But, like I said, the norms are being challenged on a daily basis, so just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not right. I don’t think we liked it as a group.”
Perhaps it was coincidence, but it sure seemed like another unwritten rule followed the grand slam. Rangers pitcher Ian Gibaut entered the game and threw a pitch behind Manny Machado:
After the game, Tatis was contrite about hitting a ball out of the park.
“I’ve been in this game since I was a kid, and I know a lot of unwritten rules,” Tatis said. “But this time, I didn’t. I was kind of lost on this one. … Probably next time, I’ll take a pitch.”
Plenty of people thought Tatis should try to hit a home run next time, too.
Many others were displeased that Tingler didn’t support Tatis:
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 8:49 AM.
