On Wednesday night, the Guardians were completely enraged by the bizarre Vaucouleurs.
Cleveland starting pitcher Ben Lively and manager Stephen Vogt forced a run on a balk call against Lively in the Guardians’ 2-0 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. He said he couldn’t believe what had happened.
Both the starter and the manager asked for an explanation, but they seemed genuinely confused by the ruling that gave them the first goal of the game.
Balk is challenging enough to understand, but it becomes even more difficult to understand when a situation like this requires lesser-known rules.
Lively is the so-called “David Price” rulesUnder this system, pitchers must tell umpires whether they are pitching from the windup or stretching on base.
In Wednesday’s scoreless game, the Red Sox had two outs and third base when home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz called a balk.
Lively did not appear to move after entering the set, which would normally cause a balk, and threw the presumed first pitch of his at-bat, but Ortiz quickly appeared and gave him a violation.
The jury ruled that he had not declared it.
“This year, the rules have changed so you have to declare if you’re going from windup or stretch.” Vogt said. “He didn’t declare himself a new batter and obviously that’s the new rule. I didn’t like that. I understand that’s the rule, but I haven’t received that explanation. No excuses. No, but all batters must be declared.
“They assume you’re going from the stretch unless you declare otherwise, even though you looked exactly like the previous hitters. But that’s the rule. We learned.”
After the ruling, Lively immediately turned to the referee and questioned the decision, appearing to say, “What?” towards first base umpire Alfonso Marquez.
Vogt then quickly came out to discuss the verdict, first chatting with Ortiz and then with Marquez.
Lively then slammed the ball into his glove, seemingly indicating that he didn’t feel it was against the rules.
He later said he felt he had taken the necessary steps.
“I thought you said something.” Lively said after the game:. “It happens, it’s okay.”
Lively appearance that seems to be against the rules MLB Rule 5.07(a)(2).
“If the pitcher stands with his pivot foot touching and parallel to the pitcher’s plate and his other foot in front of the pitcher’s plate with runners on the bases, the pitcher is pitching from a set position. “Before the turn at bat begins, notify the umpire that under such circumstances he will pitch from the windup position.” “A pitcher is permitted to notify the umpire that he is pitching from a windup position in his at-bat only if: or (ii) Immediately after one or more runners have advanced (i.e., (after more than one base runner advances and before the next pitch is sent).
The run loomed large as Cleveland had just three hits against Tanner Hawk in the shutout win. Lively had three hits in five innings and scored two runs.
