Unless you’re a night owl or obsessed with baseball, you probably missed one of the strangest baseball games in recent memory on Tuesday evening.
A strange delay took place during another marathon game for the Twins (3 hours and 35 minutes, ending at nearly 1 a.m.). It came in the bottom sixth inning because of a double switch, and it took nearly 20 minutes to sort out.
So here’s what the hell went down.
What’s a double switch?
For those unaware, a double switch is when two or more players are substituted simultaneously, and take places in the batting order different from those of the player they replaced.
It’s basically only used in the National League because they believe pitchers should still bat because they’re weirdos. The main purpose of the move is to change the pitcher’s slot in the batting order, so that a new pitcher won’t immediately come up to bat in the next half inning.
So what went wrong?
In the bottom of the sixth, Molitor tried to execute a double switch by subbing incoming pitcher Ryan Pressly for Jorge Polanco in the No. 7 spot in the batting order. Then Ehire Adrianza was to hit in the No. 9 spot for the Twins’ previous pitcher, Trevor Hildenberger.
The problem was, the umpire apparently misheard Molitor.
The umpire thought Molitor wanted to sub in Matt Belisle, and take out Eddie Rosario. Even though Molitor later said he wasn’t trying to do either.
Play was stopped for 18 minutes while the umpires, Molitor, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and officials at the Replay Command Center in New York tried to figure out what needed to be done.
After review, they determined Pressly had to take Rosario’s No. 5 spot. Adrianza was fine in the No. 9 spot, but Polanco – who left the game to start the inning, since Molitor subbed him out – had to come back into the game.
“I told him I was going to double switch,” Molitor said to Joshua Thornton of MLB.com. “I had it marked in my card Pressly was going in the seven-hole and Adrianza was going in the nine-hole. And I don’t know if I said a wrong name, but I can’t imagine I said [Matt] Belisle for Rosario. But he heard what he heard, and that’s my responsibility.”
Basically what we had here, was a failure to communicate.
No one really knows though
During the delay, the fans at Dodger Stadium were not told what was going on and both managers were also confused.
Just listen to Roberts try to explain what happened afterward. It’s not even close to what Molitor said.
#LADodgers manager Dave Roberts describes what happened in the double-switch delay pic.twitter.com/e6SCeBttMf
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) July 26, 2017
Make sense? No?
All good. We’re still confused too.
