Watch Royals dupe Francisco Lindor into making costly base-running mistake
Successful appeal plays are rare in Major League Baseball games, but the Royals took advantage of the rule during Monday night’s loss at Cleveland.
This is the official explanation of an appeal from Major League Baseball: “The defensive team can appeal certain plays to alert the umpires of infractions that would otherwise be allowed without the appeal.”
That includes a runner who fails to touch a base, which is what happened Monday.
Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor opened the sixth inning with a single. On a 3-2 pitch to Carlos Santana, Lindor took off for second. Santana hit a ball that one-hopped off the right-field wall.
Usually, Lindor would score with ease. But he ended up at third base thanks to a heads-up play by Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi. As Lindor approached second base, Mondesi pretended to be turning a double play.
Lindor didn’t know what was happening. After touching second base, he started back to first base but then reversed course and headed for third ... without stepping on second base again.
The Royals appealed and threw the ball to second base. Umpire James Hoye called Lindor out.
Cleveland ended up not scoring in the inning.
“That was huge,” Royals pitcher Brad Keller said. “I mean to go from second and third no outs to guy on second base, one out. I didn’t see the play, I didn’t know what happened. I even asked Whit (Merrifield) after we appealed and got the out. I asked Whit what happened and then they played the replay.
“But I was running to back up home and it did catch me by surprise, and I’m super thankful for that, no doubt.”
Santana, who thought he had a double, instead reached base on a fielder’s choice.
