Manny Machado’s Puzzling Baserunning Decision Wasn’t as Bad as It Looked
As the Padres continue to sputter, they’re going to need every break to go their way if they’re going to get back in the NL West race. But Manny Machado’s attempt to take an extra base in Wednesday night’s game against the Giants went poorly.
San Diego lost the first two games in San Francisco in walk-off fashion, so runs have been at a premium in the series. With the game still scoreless in the top of the fourth on Wednesday, Machado thought he saw an opportunity to put himself 90 feet from home with some aggressive baserunning.
He thought wrong.
Jake Cronenworth hit a pop-up into foul territory along the left field line that was caught by Michael Conforto. The TV broadcast showed Conforto taking a moment after the catch and then tossing the ball softly toward third, where Machado was tagged out by a mile.
From that angle, Machado’s decision to try to advance to third seemed completely baffling. Not even the fastest player in the league could tag up on a ball hit that shallowly.
But another view of the play helps explain what Machado was thinking. Third baseman J.D. Davis and shortstop Brandon Crawford drifted toward the outfield while the ball was in the air and neither one started to cover third after the ball was caught. But as Machado broke for third, Davis ran to the bag, Conforto threw to Crawford and Crawford’s relay throw caught Machado.
It still wasn’t a great decision by Machado (especially considering he was thrown out by such a wide margin even after the throw went to the cutoff man), but at least it makes more sense when you’re able to see what he was seeing.
The double play ended the inning and the Padres went on to lose, 4–2. They’ll look to avoid the four-game sweep on Thursday afternoon.
