This season has already provided us with a plethora of unusual baseball. On Opening Day, there was Cody Bellinger hitting a home run and being called out on the same play, the Marlins losing on a walkoff hit by pitch to the Mets that hit Michael Conforto in the strike zone, and plenty of other unusual sights — like Opening Day shrimp and Ronald Acuna Jr. just out running a hard hit grounder to the shortstop the other night.
The odd baseball gifts kept on coming on Monday, as Cleveland hosted the White Sox in an AL Central matchup that saw Chicago walk it off on an unbelievably strange play. Nick Williams broke his bat with two on and one out on a routine grounder to the first baseman that could have been an inning-ending double play or, at the very least, a fielders option to bring the inning to two outs. However, Yu Chang’s throw to second base skipped off Yasmani Grandal’s helmet while he was legally on the basepaths, allowing pinch runner Nick Madrigal to drive in the game-winning run from second.
If you’re Cleveland, it’s an especially painful way to lose because you got just what you wanted in that situation by getting the grounder that should’ve been a simple double play. For the White Sox, it’s a win they’re supposed to get so they’ll be thrilled to get that game over without needing extra innings by any means necessary, even if that is having your catcher take one in the back of the head as he runs to second.
