In the top of the second inning of today’s 8-5 loss to the Astros, a questionable play by Mets center fielder Yoenis Cespedes on a drive to the base of the wall by A.J. Reed, led to an inside the park home run that left many people at Tradition Field scratching their heads.
Reed drove the pitch over Cespedes’ head and it ended up landing beneath the padding in the center field wall. Cespedes threw his hands up believing the ball was dead and a ground-rule double would be called, but the second base umpire C.B. Bucknor disagreed.
Meanwhile as an animated discussion ensued in center field, which included Bucknor easily tapping the ball onto the warning track, Reed jogged home to give the Astros a 1-0 lead at the time.
“He thought it got stuck,” said manager Terry Collins who defended Cespedes. “What had happened was the umpire went out and swiped the ball and said, ‘Okay, it wasn’t stuck underneath.”
“We don’t have that ground rule necessarily. I’ve never talked about it in spring training, so it was just a misunderstanding more than anything. He thought the ball went under and stuck and just threw his hands up.”
“The ball fell under the fence,” said Cespedes after the game. “It got wedged in there. For me, I couldn’t grab that. I thought that should have followed the ground rule and should have just been the double.”
Bucknor told Cespedes that he should easily be able to grab the ball, Cespedes explained. “Of course I could grab that — if I stick my hand in there and pull it out, yes, I guess I could grab it. He stuck his hand in there and pulled it out. I could have done that as well. I just didn’t think that was what I needed to do.”
