Tigers give Twins the win thanks to hilariously awful botched game

Bad plays in baseball happen every day. But bad plays like this don’t happen every day.

Tuesday night, the detroit tigers delivered the minnesota twins a final victory in the ugliest and most spectacular way possible: a completely botched move.

Let’s set the stage. It’s the bottom of the ninth at Target Field and the Tigers are up 4-3, but the Twins threaten with runners on first and second and only one out. Miguel Sano, who was hitting .083 before Tuesday night’s game, is at the plate. He has two balls and two strikes. Then the magic happens: After Tigers pitcher Gregory Soto throws his next pitch, every Detroit player forgets how to play baseball, and all hell breaks loose.

Here’s the breakdown of that hilariously horrible piece of work in chronological order:

1. Sano hits a strong single to right field.

2. right fielder Robert Grossman he jogs to catch the ball, which appears to bounce off the top of his glove before rolling. Grossman desperately chases the ball, catches it and throws it to the second baseman. jonathan school.

3. Schoop has the ball for just a second before throwing it to the catcher. eric haase.

4. At this point, the Twins haven’t scored, but the bases are loaded. As the ball ricochets toward Haase, Sano makes what would have been a serious mistake: he keeps running past first base, forcing second baseman Gio Urshela to run toward third.

5. As Urshela runs to third, she notices that Trevor Larnach, the occupant of third base, has been held there and is not advancing. So even though Urshela is almost to third base, he turns around and starts running back to second while Sano runs back to first.

6. Haase begins to run up the third base line to throw the ball to the third baseman. Jeimer Candelario and catch Urshela in a rundown. But Haase’s pitch goes path over Candelario’s head.

7. The intact ball flies into the left field turf, where there is no fielder within a radius of at least 50 feet. Schoop, who had been ready to catch Candelario’s pitch at second, runs for the ball, but is too late. Larnach scores to tie the game, and then Urshela dives in with a belly slide to score the winning run. The tigers lose.

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That play demonstrates how baseball can be amazing and terribly punishing at the same time. Sano thought he might get to second just because Grossman couldn’t catch the ball he hit. And Urshela only made it home because she had to turn back after running almost all the way to third base, prompting a high, uncatchable throw from Haase, allowing the ball to roll into an area where there were no fielders. for miles, giving Urshela the advantage. time to score.

Bad plays, including that magnificent mess by the Tigers, are an integral part of the game. They are a thread, an ugly, disgusting, misshapen thread, in the glorious tapestry of baseball fans who know and to love they are required to deal with. They may inspire some fans to stage a medieval-style rotten vegetable toss for gamers, but they bring joy to many others.