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Royals Rally Cut Short by Double Base Running Blunder Double-Play

Stephen Douglas

The Cleveland Guardians caught two Royals in a rundown on the same play.
The Cleveland Guardians caught two Royals in a rundown on the same play. / @TalkinBaseball_
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The Cleveland Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals in extra innings on Opening Day, 7-4. The game might not have made it to the 10th if it hadn't been for two truly bizarre base running decisions made by the home team in the bottom of the 8th.

Not to mention they both happened on the same play.

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th, the Royals first two batters got on base. Jonathan India then came up to the plate with two runners on and no outs to face Hunter Gaddis. Facing a 2-2 count, India hit a ball on the ground to third baseman Jose Ramirez. Ramirez fielded the ball and threw home to Bo Naylor who chased pinch runner Dairon Blanco back to third. Naylor tossed it back to Ramirez who was able to tag Blanco.

Then Ramirez turned and caught Kyle Isbel in between second and third. Ramirez fired a strike to Gabriel Arias a second. Isbel headed towards third, but shortstop Brayan Rocchio had already hustled over to cover the empty base. Rocchio ran down Isbel to complete the double play.

If you're scoring at home that's a 5-2-5-4-6 double play thanks to two textbook rundowns by the Guardians infielders on the same play. It is the kind of thing coaches absolutely love to see.

The Royals on the other hand ended up with one less runner on base than they started the at-bat with and had zero runs to show for it. Bobby Witt Jr. ended the inning with a strikeout four pitches later and the Royals dropped their home opener.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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