Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. creates bizarre scoring decision after umpires miss call

Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. creates bizarre scoring decision after umpires miss call originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. found himself at the heart of a bizarre scoring decision during Monday night's Toronto Blue Jays game at the Los Angeles Angels.

He is, in essence, the reason Angels shortstop Zach Neto was wrongly charged with an error.

In reality, the fact that the umpires missed a call that should've went against Guerrero in the first place is the source of the problem.

The play began with Guerrero on second base. Kazuma Okamoto hit a grounder toward Neto.

The bouncing ball nicked off Guerrero's foot as he tried to avoid it while running in front of Neto.

The slight deflection caused Neto to misplay the ball, so everyone was safe.

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The problem is this: Guerrero should've been called out when the baseball hit him in front of the fielder. But the umpires didn't see it.

That means that everyone is safe, and the official scorer has to handle the play as if the baseball didn't change directions, even though it did. And so Neto gets an error.

Apparently, Neto can't even catch a break on an appeal here, because that process would also have to operate as if Guerrero never deflected the ball (because by the principle of the rule, if he had, he'd have been out).