Pittsburgh’s Valdez sparked late-game drama with a leadoff triple in the ninth, but things went sideways fast. After sliding safely into third, he stayed on the bag and called for time. In pain from a shoulder injury, he couldn’t move well and lifted his hand off the base to signal time. At that split second, the third baseman tagged him. The ump, seeing the hand off, called him out. To make it worse, the ump stepped on Valdez’s hand while moving around him to make the call. Valdez, still hurt, sat stunned as the Pirates’ bench erupted, trying to argue the timing and intent.
The Pirates challenged the out, but the review confirmed it. Slow-motion showed how close the sequence was. Valdez’s hand came off just before the tag while he clearly tried to call time. He was visibly hurt and couldn’t use his left arm, but that didn’t matter in the end. The interpretation stuck to the rulebook, leaving no room for judgment based on the injury or intent to stop play. Even the ump clearly hesitated, starting to signal time before aborting to call the out.
The whole situation felt avoidable. The play wasn’t malicious or sloppy, just a guy in pain trying to pause the game, and the rule didn’t allow for nuance. It left fans and commentators frustrated, not because the rule was broken, but because it lacked common sense. The clip ended with a kid asking why the runner was out, saying what probably everyone else was thinking.