Josh Donaldson made an embarrassing mistake on the bases during Game 1 of the ALDS Tuesday night between his New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians.
Donaldson was batting in the bottom of the 5th inning against Cal Quantrill in a 1-1 game and hit a 1-0 pitch to right field. The ball looked like it was heading out, but it hit off the top of the wall and bounced back onto the field at Yankee Stadium.
Donaldson had broken into his home run trot and rounded first when Cleveland threw the ball back in and played it like a live ball. They ended up tagging Donaldson for an out.
Here is a close-up replay of the ball:
My first question after that mistake was to ask where the Yankees’ first base coach was and why he didn’t tell Donaldson to run hard or stay on the base.
Well, now we know: first base coach Travis Chapman was busy celebrating the “home run” with Donaldson.
That was a mistake.
Officially, that went as a single for Donaldson, who was then tagged out on the bases.
Donaldson is lucky that his Yankees added a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth on an Anthony Rizzo two-run home run. New York won the game 4-1 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
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