Bo Bichette played a very forgettable game for the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night, and the umpires did him no favors by making a dumb call.
In the top of the fifth inning, Bichette made bad plays in the field two batters apart. His mistakes helped the Yankees score a run to go up 3-1. He tried to redeem himself at the plate in the bottom of the sixth, but that’s when the bad call came.
Bichette was batting with a runner on first and one out with his team down 5-1. Bichette lined a ball into right-center for what should have been a double. But Isiah Kiner-Falefa held his tag on Bichette at second after the Jays infielder slid in safely. Second base umpire Tripp Gibson said that Bichette came off the bag at some point and called him out.
That’s about as stupid of a reason to call someone out as it gets. Outs called for plays like that make no sense to me and should not be counted. That is so far from the spirit of the game. Why are we calling someone out who just slid into the bag for standing up and supposedly losing contact with the bag for a millisecond as he stood up? Bichette was trying to maintain contact the entire time and effectively did.
Umpires calling players out for that only encourages fielders to try and pull stuff like that. It completely detracts from the game and serves no benefit.
Bichette’s other errors were completely inexcusable. He misplayed a popup by Anthony Rizzo in the top of the fifth when he should have let his outfielders take the ball.
Two batters later, Bichette committed a throwing error.
The Yankees won the game 5-2 to clinch the AL East. Everything — including the calls — went their way.
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