Orioles left incensed after controversial…
A weird sequence had the Orioles fuming during their 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays on Sunday after what regarded like an inning-ending double play turned into a catalyst for a Toronto rally.
The Orioles had a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning at Rogers Centre when Ernie Clement reached base on a fielding error by Gunnar Henderson that positioned runners on the corners with one out.
That’s when Brandon Valenzuela got here up to the plate and hit a ball up the center to Henderson, who regarded as though he reached out to tag the baserunner and then made the throw to first.
Ernie Clement runs toward second base during the Blue Jays’ June 7 recreation. Screengrab via X/@jomboymedia
Baltimore thought that Clement had run out of the basepath and can be called out for doing so, but instead, second-base ump Nic Lentz called Clement secure, believing that the runner had altered his path in order to enable Henderson to make the play.
The Orioles had been furious with the call and more so when it allowed Kazuma Okamoto, Andrés Giménez and Nathan Lukes to drive in runs.
Righty Shane Baz got here out of the sport after Okamoto and Giménez acquired hits, and as he did, the pitcher shouted toward the umpire, “You f–ked up,” according to Jomboy Media.
“The only reason I’m not going to talk about that play is because I will get fined,” Baz told reporters following the sport, according to the Associated Press. “That’s the only reason.”
Orioles pitcher Shane Baz stared down umpires after they did not rule Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement was out of the baselineThe double play would’ve ended the inning and instead allowed the Blue Jays to keep scoring pic.twitter.com/oZpM71a5Nk— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 7, 2026
Henderson told reporters that he “felt like, not a great call.”
Speaking with a pool reporter after the sport, the umpires expanded on the rationale for the call.
“The runner has the right to establish his basepath, and so Clement had established his basepath to avoid the fielder from potential interference,” Lentz said, according to the Baltimore Banner. “Even though Henderson reached out for a tag, Clement’s basepath was already established out there, going to the second base, so therefore it was not out of the baseline.”
The Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement seems to run
nicely out of the baseline against the Orioles. @jomboymedia/X
Crew chief Hunter Wendelstedt went as far as to describe the choice to alter the basepath a “very gentlemanly thing to do.”
“He was getting out of the way to allow the fielder to make the play toward first base,” he continued. “It just so happened that, you know, then they tried to spin it to get two, but his [Clement’s] basepath was already established, and it was not trying to get out of that.”
Craig Albernaz #55 of the Baltimore Orioles speaks with
umpire Hunter Wendelstedt #21 during the eighth
inning at Rogers Centre. Getty Images
Orioles supervisor Craig Albernaz said the umpires had told him it was because there wasn’t enough of a tag attempt by Henderson.
“I think when you stick your glove out to tag somebody, that’s an attempted tag,” Albernaz said following the sport. “There’s no rule about how far you have to extend your arm to tag somebody.”
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