The St. Louis Cardinals got an unlikely assist from an umpire during their Monday matchup against the New York Mets at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Cardinals second baseman Jose Fermin was the first batter up in the bottom of the first inning to face Mets starting pitcher Sean Manaea. Fermin bounced an 86 mph changeup past the third base bag.
As Mets third baseman Brett Baty tried to make a play, he crashed hard into third base umpire Doug Eddings.
Both men appeared to get up from the collision unscathed. The umpires ruled the play a base hit for Fermin.
Given Fermin’s speed, Baty probably wouldn’t have gotten the out anyway. But the umpire interference did rob the Mets infielder of the opportunity to at least make a throw.
The Cardinals on Monday may have been the beneficiaries of some karmic justice. St. Louis was recently burned by a brutal strike call to end a game following one of the most ill-timed rain delays ever.
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