A's manager Mark Kotsay wants to review two plays at once, a breakdown
What Happened
In a close game between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics on Opening Day, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay wants to review two plays at once. In the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied, the Athletics' batter attempts to bunt the runners over. He fouls the ball straight down, unable to get the bunt down. On the next pitch, the batter squares around to bunt again, this time making contact. The umpire initially does not call it a foul tip, and the tying run scores as a result. Athletics manager Mark Kotsay then approaches the umpire, questioning why the foul tip was not called. The umpire says he did not have a good view of the play, so Kotsay asks the other umpires if they saw anything. They defer to the home plate umpire's call, but Kotsay still requests a replay review. The replay shows the ball hitting the catcher's glove, not the bat, confirming the umpire's original call. However, the replay also reveals that the runner at home plate never touched the plate before being tagged out. Athletics pitcher Gio Urshela makes a heads-up play, covering home and tagging the runner out. After review, the call on the field is overturned, and the runner is ruled out at home. "It's not even a question. Out," Kotsay tells his coaching staff. "It made us challenge it, though." The failed bunt attempt ultimately has an impact, as the Athletics are only able to tie the game on a sacrifice fly later in the inning. breaks down the unusual sequence of events, noting the "oddities" and "lip reading" involved. He also provides a bonus segment highlighting the best and worst bunts from Opening Day weekend, showcasing a mix of impressive defensive plays and poorly executed attempts. The summary ends with 's observation that "bunts can be good and bunts can be bad, but most of the time bunts are just bunts.".
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentWe've got the Mariners and the Athletics
playing on opening day. This breakdown
is brought to you by DraftKings. And
there was a weird play. I was searching
for something else and then I came
across this play. Two on, bottom
seventh, one-run game. Tries to bunt the
runners over. Fouls it straight down.
Can't get the bunt. In fair territory.
They're going to try and bunt it again.
Squeezes the bat. Rubs the dirt off the
end. Massages the thigh. And now the 01
pitch. Bunted. Foul tipped. Is the
umpire. Okay. The play's still going.
We're trying to score. He's at home.
He's safe. Oh, pitcher wanted out.
Runner safe. Tying run just scores. He
didn't foul that back. He was trying. He
offered at it. So, like, what happens?
Athletics coach comes out, says, "You
didn't call it a foul ball?" "No." He
goes, "No, I didn't have it." He's like,
"Well, can you go ask the guys what they
had?" He's like, "Yeah, dude. I'll go."
I love talking to the fellas. Hey guys,
what did you have anything? They're
like, "Well, you had a better view than
us, dude, and we're not gonna over
overrule you." And he's like, "Yeah,
okay." And he's like, "Can I replay it?"
No. No. Can I replay it? No, it's not
review the ruling at the
You can. Yeah, you can. So, umpire's
going to put the review in motion. Kate
goes back to his dugout talking to his
coaches and he says, "How do you miss
that? There's a [ __ ] foul tip. My
gosh. Ask any [ __ ] buddy in the
ballpark. How do you [ __ ] not have a
foul ball right there? Come on. Well,
let's take a look. Did it hit the bat?
Nice spinning stabilized
shot. Bats in play. But no. Hits the
glove. Hits the
umpire. And that's why the catcher
Langers, he turns around. He doesn't
play the ball. He's just like, "Blue,
you okay? You okay? And did it hit the
bat?" No. No. Don't think it did. So, it
is a strike. Kat hears from his coach.
He's like, "No, it didn't. It wasn't a
foul tip." He's like, "Okay, fine.
Umpire's getting the review in." And
then he turns to his coach. He says,
"He's out at the plate, though." Out.
It's not even a question. Out. It made
us challenge it, though. Here, look. He
never touches the plate. His foot comes
up. See? Yeah. Let's take a look. Here's
the ball. It's being thrown. Pitcher's
covering home plate. He grabs it. The
foot beats him, but it pops up and he is
tagged out. And that's the conclusion.
After review, the call on the field is
overturned. The runner is out.
Hey, what a play from Gio Orchella.
Never gave up on the play. Other people
thought it was a foul tip. He runs all
the way to the on deck circle, grabs it,
pitchers covering, great throw, great
tag, unfortunate slide, but hats off to
Gio the God. Urella miss his cuteness on
the Yankees. Hey, 0
and2 on the attempt. It's 0 and2. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. It should be 0 and2. He
tried to bunt it twice. Okay. Cuz one
one of the score bugs has O and the
other one has a one in one count, but
they're right. It should be 02. Okay.
See, the other one just flashed to 0
and2. Not that it matters. The next ball
is put in play deep, but they do tie the
game on a sack fly. So that play did
have an effect because that runner only
gets to third because of the failed bunt
attempt. So that was a weird situation
that I saw and I said this is worth
having a a fun look at. There's lip
reading. There's oddities. You don't see
it that much. And then
also bonus content. Let's talk about
bunts. This is what I was actually
trying to find. I was trying to find the
best and worst bunts from opening
weekend. The best fielded bunts. the
worst fielded bunts, the best bunts, the
worst bunts. A lot of people try to bunt
and it's not easy. A lot of them foul it
back. Yeah, a lot of guys foul it back.
There's only a one weekend span. Some
guys attempt and get a strike called on
them like all these guys. That's not
good bunting. Nuh-uh. Nuh-uh. When the
ball's running away from you, that's not
good. And other guys just lay down bad
bunts. This is our third worst bunt of
opening day weekend. Just it does get
the job done and moving the runner over,
but just right to Bryce. He didn't care.
Next bad bunt. This one in the air.
Catcher makes it. You don't move the
runner. You just give them an out. And
now here we go. No outs. Trying to move
both runners over. Right to the third
baseman. Just easy peasy. Top three
worst bunts. Now let's look at the top
three fielded bunts. Severino off the
mound. Grab throw. gets him. Next best
fielded bunt, we got a race. First
baseman scoops it and diving. Two people
diving out and then this one. First
baseman grabs it, goes to second and IKF
with the scoop to get the lead runner.
Here's one of the worst fielded bunts
from opening weekend. It's a nice bunt.
Pitcher gets there and just airmails it.
Looks like he's throwing with a foreign
arm. Guy gets to second. This is a nice
bunt. Top three best bunts. They weren't
expecting it. They were playing back.
Gets a base hit. Our guy Happer doing
the same thing. Laying it down the line,
beating out the throw. They weren't
expecting it. This one drags drags it
down. Second baseman has to do a glove
flip, but he was going to be safe
anyway. Whoa. Whoa. More bonus content
cuz this clip is a mixture of one of the
best bunts of opening weekend, but also
one of the worst fielded bunts of
opening weekend. kind of a combo job.
Rays are up one. There's two runners on.
The infield is in. They're trying to
stop the soft stuff. They think they're
ready for it. And he's going to say,
"I'm still buttoning on your asses, gets
it down. It's a nice bunt. Catcher grabs
it, throws it away. Two-run score, and
the batter gets to second." So, that's
the best and worst bunt of opening
weekend. Thank you to DraftKings for
sponsoring this breakdown and thank you
to you guys for watching it. If you
enjoyed the video, leave this comment
below. Bunts can be good and bunts can
be bad, but most of the time bunts are
just bunts.