A controversial scoring decision held Yu Darvish's perfect game bid intact during the seventh inning Friday vs. the Boston Red Sox, prompting some interesting post-game comments from David Ortiz, John Farrell and the official scorer.
Here's a review of the play that was officially ruled an E9 for those of you that didn't catch it:
The Red Sox camp sounded off on the decision, criticizing the official scorer's interpretation:
David Ortiz believes error will be changed to a hit. "When it comes to the rules of the game, that's a hit" #RedSox
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) May 10, 2014
Farrell on scoring call in 7th: " 10 out out of 10 times that's a hit."
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 10, 2014
Here's the interpretation of the error vs. hit rule via the MLB website:
It is not necessary that the fielder touch the ball to be charged with an error. If a ground ball goes through a fielder's legs or a fly ball falls untouched and, in the scorer's judgment, the fielder could have handled the ball with ordinary effort, the official scorer shall charge such fielder with an error
The official scorer also elaborated on his ruling after the game:
Official scorer: "In my judgement, when the ball goes up in the air, I felt like the 2B or RF under normal effort could’ve caught the ball"
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) May 10, 2014
Darvish walked the next batter to end his perfect game bid, but did take a no-no into the ninth inning until David Ortiz spoiled the party with a 2-out single.
