David Ortiz broke up Yu Darvish’s no-hitter with two outs in the 9th inning of Friday’s Rangers-Red Sox game with a solid ground ball single to right, but the Sox slugger is not satisfied with receiving credit for only one hit.
See, Ortiz also hit a fly ball to right field in the seventh inning that fell between second baseman Rougned Odor and right fielder Alex Rios. The official scorer controversially scored the ball an error on Rios instead of a hit for Ortiz. Though plays like that should be considered errors on fielders, they are almost always scored as hits. Ortiz knows that, and he wants MLB to do something about it.
“I mean, OK, I know I hit a ball that was supposed to be caught, the guy is throwing a no-hitter, we all understand that,” Ortiz said via Mass Live. “But when it comes down to the rules in the game, that’s a hit. That’s the rule that we all know and that’s the rule the game has had for more than 100 years. The ball in the outfield drops between the infield and the outfield and nobody touched it, that’s a hit.”
The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham says Ortiz is seeking action from MLB.
Ortiz is right that that type of play is usually called a hit. He says that if that play were the difference between a no-hitter and 1-hitter, he would have let it go. But since he broke up the no-hitter with a clean single, he thinks he should get the other play overturned, too.
This is no surprise. After all, we’ve seen in the past how passionate Ortiz is about his statistics.
At the least, MLB should use the play as a catalyst for change; that type of ball should always be ruled an error on the fielders. They need to emphasize that non-contact plays can and should be ruled errors.
