The Pittsburgh Pirates had a sequence during Wednesday’s game that was worthy of some Benny Hill music.
In the ninth inning of their series finale against the Boston Red Sox, Pirates baserunners Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen combined for one of the silliest goofs imaginable. With Reynolds on third base, McCutchen on second and just one out, Pittsburgh slugger Carlos Santana hit a tapper back to the mound. Reynolds got caught up between third and home and was eventually tagged out after a rundown.
But where it really got wonky was with McCutchen. Before Reynolds got tagged out, the ex-NL MVP was standing on the third base bag, effectively removing it as an option for Reynolds to return to. But McCutchen then compounded the mistake by starting to run back to second. From there, he was a sitting duck and got tagged out himself for a 1-2 double play (with Red Sox catcher Connor Wong doing the honors of retiring both players).
Here is the video.
At that point, you figure McCutchen should have just stayed put on third and given his team another chance to plate a run. Instead, though, the Red Sox got an easy 2-for-1 special with the inning-ending double play.
Fortunately for the Pirates, they were already up 4-1 at the time and held on to win by the same final score, sweeping the three-game series against the Red Sox. The Pirates are now off to a 4-2 start to the season (though baserunning is still obviously not their strongest suit).
More must-reads: