Things got weird late in the Royals vs. Indians game, tied 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on first and third, the Indians tried to get aggressive on a ground ball. The lead runner broke for home, got caught in a rundown, and told the trailing runner to take third base. Both ended up standing on third, which led to confusion from everyone. Royals catcher Salvador Pérez tagged the lead runner first, who has rights to the base. Then the runner lifted his hand off the bag while still being tagged, which by rule makes him out. At that moment, the trailing runner took control of the base. But the ump didn’t catch that detail live. Thinking both runners were on the bag at once, he called them both out.
Then the argument started. Terry Francona tried to understand what happened, got frustrated, dropped a few F-bombs, and got tossed. The ump tried to explain the rule, but no one was really on the same page. Meanwhile, the Royals got out of the inning unharmed. But it didn’t matter much. Bottom of the ninth, the Indians walked it off with a no-doubt home run. Celebration followed. Players threw water bottles, but missed with the Gatorade bucket. Somehow, sideline reporter Andre Knott took the brunt of the splash, again. A total mess of a play, a blown call, and a perfect finish for Cleveland.