Judging by just the scoreboard, the White Sox's 2-1 victory over the Tigers on Saturday is an unassuming game in the vast expanse of MLB history.
A deeper dive into the game shows two teams that struggled on offense in a pitchers' duel. Each team had more strikeouts by themselves (11 for Chicago, 10 for Detroit) than there was total hits in the game (seven).
And yet, out of that otherwise-uneventful game came a highlight — er, lowlight — finish: a wild pitch by Jose Cisnero struck home plate umpire Cory Blaser in his face mask, allowing Yoan Moncada to score the game-winning run from third base in the bottom of the 10th inning.
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Tigers catcher Eric Haase didn't bother to cover home as Cisnero scrambled to find the ball; instead he checked on Blaser as Moncada advanced to home uncontested:
Why wasn't play called dead when the ball hit the umpire?
Per MLB Rule 6.01(f), regarding coach and umpire interference, the ball was live even after Blaser was struck in the face.
If a thrown ball accidentally touches a base coach, or a pitched or thrown ball touches an umpire, the ball is alive and in play. However, if the coach interferes with a thrown ball, the runner is out
Cisnero took the loss after allowing the run in the 10th. Tigers starter Michael Lorenzen threw a run-scoring wild pitch of his own over his seven innings of work.
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Has an MLB game finished with all runs scored via wild pitches?
The Tigers-White Sox finish is wild enough on its own (pardon the pun), but it also produced a fascinating footnote: Per the Elias Sports Bureau— via Codify Baseball — Saturday's game is the first in MLB history where all three of the game's runs were the result of wild pitches:
Andrew Benintendi scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth after a wild pitch by Lorenzen. Benintendi led off the inning with a single, stole second on a strikeout by Eloy Jimenez, and then advanced to third and home on wild pitches by Lorenzen.
The Tigers returned the favor in the top of the sixth. Zach McKinstry hit a leadoff triple and then scored on a Dylan Cease wild pitch with Javier Baez at bat.
For better or worse, that set up a wild, history-making finish.