A pitcher mowing over the first base umpire is not something you see every day.
In fact, Tuesday was the first time Matt Quatraro had ever seen such a thing.
During the ninth inning of the Blue Jays’ win over the Royals, Toronto center fielder Kevin Kiermaier grounded to first base. Kansas City reliever Aroldis Chapman sprinted to cover first base, but when he realized first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino would beat him to the bag, Chapman ran behind him.
But Chapman didn’t stop running, nor did he stop looking at the play. Because of the unusual route he ultimately took, that set him on a collision course with first base umpire Vic Carapazza. Chapman, all 6-foot-4, 218 pounds of him, barrelled into Carapazza.
Fortunately no one was hurt, making Carapazza's reaction of the safe signal from the ground pretty funny. The call was quickly corrected though, with Kiermaier being called out.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, especially such a close play,” Quatraro said Wednesday in his weekly appearance on Fescoe in the Morning. “A good runner, a nice play by Vinnie and Chapman was going as hard as he could. That was a good collision, I’m glad nobody got hurt.
“That was probably just a reflex reaction (from the umpire), right?” Quatraro added. “He hit the ground and wasn’t exactly sure what was going on.”
All told, everything worked out fine – no one was injured and the correct call was made. Nevertheless, that was quite the sight just a few days into the campaign.
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