Target Field, Minneapolis (The agony of the lost replay challenge, the ecstasy of a walk-off)

Our quest for ballparks comes, ultimately, from a love of the game of baseball. Last night's game reinforced why we love the game. It was a game that had a little bit of everything, with a conclusion that you really couldn't script much better.

After seven innings, the Twins led the Red Sox 4-3, and we'd had two home runs, two stolen bases, one runner thrown out trying to steal second, another runner picked off third by the catcher, a manager and a player thrown out of the game by the umpire, a runner thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double, and a runner scoring from first on a single. Every one of those was a fascinating play, but in retrospect, the game hadn't gotten interesting yet.

In the top of the 8th, Masataka Yoshida got a single for the Red Sox, and manager Alex Cora sent in David Hamilton to pinch-run for him. It was Hamilton's major league debut, and he made the most of it by stealing second base a couple of pitches later, and then scoring to tie the game. 

It was tied after 9, so we went to extra innings, and got to see the glory of the "Manfred Man." Commissioner Rob Manfred has been a strong proponent of trying to speed up games, and one of several important rules changes was that in extra innings, a team starts with a runner on second base (the runner is the last batter of the previous inning). Besides speeding up the game, the Manfred Man means that a set of skills that have fallen out of favor are now valuable. In general, baseball has moved away from "small ball," things like sacrifice bunts, and hitting the ball to the right side with a runner on second and no one out so that the runner can advance to third. Eschewing small ball makes sense, statistically, if you want to win. While those strategies can make it more likely that you'll score one run in an inning, they make it less likely that you'll score multiple runs in that inning, and many games are decided not by how many one-run innings a team has, but by the biggest inning a team has. In an extra-inning game, a one-run inning will often win it.

In the top of the 10th inning, the first hitter for the Red Sox was Justin Turner, the scraggly-bearded former Dodger, who had four hits, two walks, four runs scored and three runs batted in for the two games we saw. He was clearly one of the most dangerous hitters for the Red Sox. But he's a right-handed hitter, and he always pulls the ball, so he hit it in the hole between shortstop and third. Shortstop Carlos Correa fielded it (so the runner couldn't go to third), and made a beautiful one-hop throw to first to get him. Now the Red Sox have one out and a runner on second, and need a hit to score a run. Minnesota's Jovani Moran struck out the next hitter, walked the next one intentionally, then struck out the next hitter. Boston's inability to play small ball meant that they hadn't scored.

In the bottom of the 10th, the Red Sox intentionally walked the first hitter to set up a force situation, runners on first and second. Minnesota's Michael A. Taylor then tried for a sacrifice bunt, to set up a situation with one out and a runner on third, where you don't have to get another hit to score. Taylor laid down a bunt, and then things got crazy. Boston's first baseman, Triston Casas, fielded the bunt, but it was a good enough bunt that Casas couldn't throw to third, so he turned to throw to first. But he had to throw to the pitcher, Kaleb Ort, who was running over to cover. The batter (Taylor), the fielder (Ort), and the ball all arrived at first base at just about the same time, leading to a very confusing play. The umpire called the batter out, and the Twins challenged the call. Another new rule in the last few years is that a team can challenge a call, and a crew of umpires in New York City will decide whether the call was right or not. One of the things that's fun about this is that various views will then be shown on the massive video scoreboard, and the hometown crowd will cheer or groan as different angles seem to indicate different outcomes. In this case, it looked like the fielder, Ort, never touched first base. But then again, Taylor missed first base, too. But Ort didn't tag Taylor, either. Maybe Taylor touched it with his toe as his foot slid over the base. But did Taylor somehow interfere with Ort? It was a mess, and the New York crew took a long time making a decision. I concluded that Taylor had indeed dragged a toe across the base and was safe, and of course the home crowd concluded he was safe. But New York disagreed, and the stadium erupted into a deep-throated "boo."  Even though the stadium was only half full, 23,000 people can make an impressive rumble. 

Incidentally, there were all sorts of things that were wrong about that play. The first-base umpire wasn't really in the right place to make the call - but he'd gone to the place that's normally the right place, and the play went haywire. Taylor didn't seem to be running as hard as he could have been - but then again, his job was to sacrifice, and he'd done it, and the first baseman had gotten to the ball in plenty of time to throw him out. Ort was trying to catch the ball on a dead run, and touch the base at the same time, a little like an NFL receiver, and maybe he should have gotten over there faster - but much later, I realized that it's the second baseman who normally takes the throw on that play, and I have no idea where he was.

In any case, it was now one out, and a runner on third. The Red Sox didn't put an outfielder in the infield, as we saw in this situation last Sunday, but they did pull the outfield way in, and pulled the infield in so that they could throw to the plate on any ground ball they got to. The batter was Kyle Farmer, who has had a tough year - he missed a month of action earlier in the season after being hit in the face with a pitch. He looked bad on the first pitch, a swing and miss on a slider low and away. Then he took a fastball outside. The third pitch was another slider, similar to the first one, but barely hittable, and Farmer lined it into center. The centerfielder charged it, and threw to the plate, but he had no chance to get the runner from third, and the Twins had won. 

Those 23,000 who had been booing about 60 seconds earlier were now deliriously happy.

I love baseball.