Guerrero Awarded Home on Obstruction...Interference on Next Play

3B Umpire Erich Bacchus awarded Blue Jays baserunner R2 Vlad Guerrero home, scoring a run, due to obstruction by Tigers 3B Ryan Kreidler on a ground ball past third base. On the very next play, HP Umpire Ryan Wills called umpire interference on himself. Article:

To set the scene, with two on (R1 and R2) and two on in the bottom of the 4th inning of the Detroit-Toronto game, Blue Jays batter Whit Merrifield hit a ground ball into the hole on the infield's left side, where it was fielded in a diving play by Detroit shortstop Javier Baez. With Toronto's runners off with the pitch on the hit-and-run, R2 Guerrero had to hurdle the batted ball to avoid interference, signified by 3B Umpire Bacchus' "safe" mechanic.

But when Guerrero rounded third base, he nearly collided with Tigers third baseman Kreidler, who was stuck watching Baez's diving play and thus inadvertently (but still violative of rule) obstructed Guerrero by impeding his path to home plate by forcing Guerrero to run further outside, thus making his journey home a longer one, both in distance and in travel time.

Bacchus pointed at the obstruction and after the play concluded awarded Guerrero home. Under Obstruction Type 2 (Official Baseball Rule 6.01(h)(2)), Bacchus nullified the act by ruling that had obstruction not occurred, Guerrero would have scored, the penalty for OBS Type 2, which keeps play alive until its natural conclusion before the penalty phase of "nullify the act" is imposed.

Was that the correct call? Had this been Obstruction Type 1, Guerrero would be automatically awarded home and the ball would be dead immediately upon obstruction occurring. In order for OBS 1 to happen, though, there would have to have been a play on Guerrero actively occurring at the time of obstruction.

The very next play produced an umpire interference (OBR 6.01(f)) situation when, with the Blue Jays trying a double steal once again, HP Umpire Ryan Wills accidentally hindered or impeded Tigers catcher Eric Haase's attempted throw to third base. The penalty for ump interference is simply to send the runners back to the bases they came from.

Both managers were out to speak with the umpires in the 4th inning about the respective plays (Tigers manager AJ Hinch spoke with 3B Umpire Bacchus about the obstruction play at third while Blue Jays manager Jon Schneider spoke with HP Umpire Wills about the umpire interference play at home), both calls were concisely explained, and the game resumed without further incident in both cases.

Alternate Link: Analyzing obstruction and umpire interference plays in Toronto (DET-TOR)