Lanes

The Cardinals swept a double-header from the Reds today, winning the last game in interesting fashion 1-0 in extra innings. Starting with a ghost runner on second, the leadoff man walked. Then the next batter chopped a bunt off the plate and by the time it came down and the pitcher figured out that the ball really needed to go to first, all of the runners were safe.

Bases loaded, nobody out, Goldschmidt at the plate. The Reds brought an outfielder in to play third. This fellow has apparently played infield in the distant past and has worked out at infield periodically, but hasn't really played a whole lot of infield lately. Goldy hit a hard shot at the outfielder / third baseman who managed to flag it down. The runner on third, Knizner, had to go home, of course, and managed to establish a lane on the infield grass.

And then the throw from third to home hit him. Knizner scored. Game over.

The Reds argued for an interference call, but since Knizner was just running in a reasonable place, they weren't going to get that call. A more experienced infielder might have moved to try to get a clear path for the throw -- or not.

Made for a long discussion on MLB Network though...