'Weird' Juan Soto Play Left An Injured O's Player
The Orioles were troubled by a "strange play" involving Juan Soto that resulted in their third baseman leaving the Yankees' 4-2 victory with an injury two innings before Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the third on Tuesday night.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a slow chopper toward Orioles' Jordan Westburg, causing Soto, the lead runner on second, to sprint onto third. Soto then slowed down and made contact with Westburg as the ball and Westburg approached him. This led to an interference penalty against Soto that ended the inning.
Westburg left the game at the bottom of the second inning with an injured left hip. Ramon Urias took his place. His injury will be on a day-to-day basis.
After the game, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters, "That's a strange play." “You don’t see that a ton. A routine ground ball, just ran into him on it. I don’t know.”
Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson claimed that he "didn't really understand" the play's events.
On Tuesday, Soto was penalized for interference with a fielder for the second time in three weeks.
Juan Soto's First Penalty
With the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning on May 29 in Anaheim, Soto attempted to return to second base on an infield popup by Stanton, but the ball fell after he collided with shortstop Zach Neto.
Aaron Boone, manager of the Yankees, was ejected for the third time this season when he rushed from the first-base dugout to contest the umpires' ruling.
“I don’t know what Juan [is supposed to do],” Boone told reporters. “You can say, ‘He’d better get there,’ but once he commits to getting there and tries to stay out of the way, if Neto catches it, he might catch it on the bag for a double play. It's like, ‘Where do you go?’ So, obviously, a tough way to start things when you load the bases there in the first inning, and you’ve got a really good pitcher on the ropes.”
"A runner adjudged to have hindered a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball is out whether it was intentional or not," states rule 6.01(a).
EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS:
Order your favorite whiskey or spirit for the big game right to your doorstep and use code STADIUMRANT10 for a 10% discount at Caskers
Use code STADIUMRANT20 for a 20% discount at Bulletproof Coffee, SwingJuice and Performix.
If you love to shotgun beers, use code STADIUMRANT10 at Wild Man Drinking Company.
MORE FROM STADIUM RANT:
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter here. Check out Stadium Rant Original shows on our Youtube channel and subscribe! Give our socials Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok a follow for more great content!