Baserunning blunders costly for Quakes in 4-3 loss to 66ers

66ers held on to defeat the Quakes 4-3 on Monday night but not without help from some bad Quakes baserunning you may never see in a game again.

There were six players thrown out on the bases Monday night, but two plays in particular stand out.

  • In the second inning, the Quakes had runners on first and second with one out. Casio Grider strayed off of first and catcher Abel Baker threw down to first to pick him off. Scott Wingo on second decided to take off for third and was thrown out at third to end the inning. A 2-3-5 double play without a pitching being thrown
  • But the doozie came in the seventh inning. With the Quakes trailing 4-2 Webster Rivas on first, Bladimir Franco belted a double to right-center. Rivas was in the process of scoring easily as the relay throw to the plate was wide. But Scott Wingo, the on-deck hitter, was standing on the third-base side of home plate and got in catcher Baker’s way as he tried to go after the ball. Rivas was called out on Wingo’s interference. I believe it is a violation of MLB Rule 7.09 (D) that states: “It is interference by a batter or a runner when — Any member or members of the offensive team stand or gather around any base to which a runner is advancing, to confuse, hinder or add to the difficulty of the fielders. Such runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate or teammates.”
  • The other baserunners thrown out were more normal. Darnell Sweeney thrown out trying to steal second in the first inning. Scott Schebler thrown out (1-6) trying to steal second without a pitching being thrown in the sixth inning. The next batter, Sweeney, was easily thrown out at third trying to stretch a double to a triple.