Blue Jays-Red Sox game delayed after confusion over outs and a ruled run

sportsAug 11, 202624348

The Blue Jays and Red Sox paused play for more than 15 minutes in the top of the seventh inning after the Rogers Centre scoreboard showed the wrong number of outs and umpires disputed whether Boston’s run should count. After two Red Sox singles, Nick Sogard hit a liner that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dove for, caught on a bounce, and threw to second for what was recorded on the stadium board as a double play. Ceddanne Rafaela then flied out to center, Brett Bateman caught it and relayed to first for what the field thought was the third out, but the Red Sox runner had already crossed home before the out at first was recorded. Umpires, led by crew chief Chris Guccione, consulted MLB by phone about rule 5.09(c)(4) and ruled the run valid because Toronto had effectively lost its right to appeal after leaving the field; Guccione said the scoreboard error did not affect the ruling. Boston interim manager Chad Tracy called the sequence “strange” and stressed teams must know the outs independent of the board; Blue Jays manager John Schneider defended the timing-play interpretation. The delay produced heavy boos from the Toronto crowd but did not change the final result, as Toronto won 2-1.

Justin White

@jwhite.bsky.social

I am going to try to explain what just happened in the Blue Jays/Red Sox game. Reskeet if you want to. So the Red Sox had runners on first and second, no outs. The batter hit a low liner toward 1st base which bounced once on the dirt just as Vladdy dove to stop the ball. It would have looked like...

1326h ago

Justin White34

...he caught if if you were a base-runner, but he didn't catch it. He knew it too, so he forced the runner out at 2nd, leaving two guys on (first and third). The scoreboard operator must have read it as a line drive double play because for a short time, the scoreboard read two outs rather than one.

reggie seidman12

This is a " @jonbois.bsky.social watching baseball " story.

Heiz4

I would be livid if I was on the Jays staff.

Jeremy Bailin3

I hate that I understand this.

John Leone2

Professional baseball…man, I don’t know

Thurman8er2

I can't WAIT for highlights. Too bad every game is only allowed about a minute for the wrapup these days.

Quoting this

Micah112

every day in baseball you might see something you’ve never seen before, and that’s beautiful

Katherine Alejandra Cross9

How can you not be romantic about baseball?

KD Casey — Read Breakout Year Today!8

I need everyone in baseball to learn to count to two

Gausless in Toronto5

Justin has the best explanation of that shitshow

Marsha🇨🇦3

This is a good thread so we get it now but also, why did it take the umps and going to NY sooooo long to figure out this rule? What a night. C"mon Louis, lock it down! #BlueJays

Mona Lott2

I saw video clips of this & the ump explanation. Between those & this amazing well-written thread, it still is confusing AF & insane to me. Baseball sure can be pure chaos & this kind of shit makes me love it even more.

emmylou harris's baseball pager 🗽🫱🏿‍🫲🏻2

how can you not be romantic about baseball, the sport that causes madness on par with a Lovecraftian eldritch horror (laudatory)

Flying Mezerkis2

Still trying to understand this.

Mike Wilner

@wilnerness.bsky.social

By the way, #Bluejays manager John Schneider made sure to point out after the game that, including last week with #Bisons, Charles McAdoo has now homered in five straight games.

315h ago

Swagger

@girlswagger101.bsky.social

Good job, Blue Jays! Blue Jays take game 1 despite Red Sox dumbassery. #BlueJays 💁🏻

235h ago

Audrey Armstrong

@lesbiaudrey.bsky.social

Boy I sure am glad the Toronto Blue Jays won 2-0 tonight and the Red Sox definitely never scored a run!!! #bluejays

145h ago

Will Harris

@sandwichpick.bsky.social

If you thought the Red Sox Blue Jays situation was weird it could've been 10x weirder

MLB Scoring Changes @ScoringChanges
S
B FOURTH OUT MISTAKE!!! S
NO WAY!!! @RedSox at @BlueJays and in the 7thx Boston has first and third and one out. Ceddanne Rafaela hits a fly to center and both runners forget there was one out. After the ball was caught. the Blue Javs threw the the ball in and doubled off the runner at first, for an inning ending double play
Since the runner from third scored BEFORE the third out. the run count because this is not a force, but a timing play
What Toronto SHOULD have done is after the out at first, they legally could have thrown to third and appealed that that runner left early. This would have been the elusive FOURTH OUT and this would have replaced the third out and nullified the run.
Once all the infielders crossed the foul line, the ability to appeal the play was lost, and once that happened, the run was officially counted.

206h ago

Bryan Joiner1

ty, I have cited u www.overthemonster.com/red-sox-game...

Gerkinov 🌻🍉1

So it wasn't umpire error for scoring the run without a tag up? A run can be scored on a sac fly without a tag up? WTactualF?

Quoting this

🦔 Princess Fielder 🏳️‍⚧️7

Baseball is the best sport in the world and no one knows the rules

Tom from Bluebird Banter

@bluebirdbanter.bsky.social

Jays Overcome A Really Weird Ruling and Beat Red Sox

165h ago

Keegan Matheson

@keeganmatheson.bsky.social

What just happened and what is a “fourth out”? My story with details on the ruling between the #BlueJays and the Red Sox: www.mlb.com/bluejays/new...

154h ago

Peter Abraham

@peteabeglobe.bsky.social

Blue Jays 2, Red Sox 1, final. Sox (64-54) have lost three straight for the first time since losing four in a row from June 14-18. Sox are 3-7 vs. the Jays this season.

155h ago

Toronto Blue Jays

@bluejaysbot.bsky.social

Big Mac and Bate made it to the Win Cam! #BlueJays50

104h ago

Drunk Sox Guy

@drunksoxguy.bsky.social

If I’m the Red Sox, the next time the Blue Jays come to Fenway and the Blue Jays are up the scoreboard will always say there’s two out

116h ago

Patrick Riley

@patjriley.bsky.social

When people say that every baseball game you’ll see something you’ve never seen before, they’re talking about the top of this 7th inning in the Red Sox-Blue Jays game

96h ago

Tim Healey

@timbhealey.bsky.social

“They’re very rare, but we saw one tonight.” I am a better baseball fan for knowing about the “Fourth Out” play. Seems oxymoronic! And yet: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/10/s...

63h ago

Quoting this

Jacob Pomrenke2

In SABR’s Baseball Research Journal, Stew Thornley laid out this exact scenario tonight in explaining the “fourth out” rule: sabr.org/journal/arti...

Mathew Reisler

@mathewisntcool.bsky.social

That has to be the dumbest ruling in sports history. The Red Sox get a run because thrir two guys on base forgot how many outs there were, then the Blue Jays threw to the wrong base. Ridiculous.

56h ago

neongrey

@neongrey.bsky.social

it's really kind of fun how you can generally pinpoint the moment the blue jays go into "okay, that's all the run support we can expect, try and add on but lock it down" based on the bench coming in

34h ago

oldcatcherp.bsky.social

@oldcatcherp.bsky.social

Any time a rule is quoted with the decimal point is a sign that shit just went down. The Blue Jays Red Sox game definitely proved that there's more to baseball than any one person can keep track of. Pray for me as I try to explain this to my kid who will absolutely want the full legal debrief.

55h ago

3 sources

nytimes.comRed Sox-Blue Jays game delayed amid confusion over scoreboard, number of outs (Gift Article)bluejaysnation.comInstant Reaction: Blue Jays’ offence does just enough to steal series opener from Boston clothivostore.comRed Sox vs Blue Jays Searches Rise in August | CLOTHIVOSTORE

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Blue Jays-Red Sox game delayed after confusion over outs and a ruled run

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