Although Diamondbacks runner Jake McCarthy stumbled back onto the first base side after sliding into second on his way to third, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza lost his base touch challenge as umpires determined McCarthy did not violate a rule by not retouching second base while advancing to third base, leaving at least one broadcaster stumped. What happened?
McCarthy slid feet-first into second base before popping up to advance to third on New York catcher Francisco Alvarez's throwing error. In doing so, however, McCarthy stepped toward the right field/first base side of second, leading New York to appeal a missed base touch at second, with the thought process being that because McCarthy stepped back onto the first base side of the bag, he was required to retouch second before advancing to third (last time by principle).
Official Baseball Rule 5.06(b)(1) states, "In advancing, a runner shall touch first, second, third and home base in order. If forced to return, they shall retouch all bases in reverse order, unless the ball is dead under any provision of Rule 5.06(c). In such cases, the runner may go directly to their original base."
2B Umpire Malachi Moore, however, signaled McCarthy safe and, after Replay Review as a result of Mendoza's challenge, crew chief Bill Miller announced the call had been confirmed, much to the surprise of SNY. Why did Replay confirm this call despite McCarthy clearly stepping to the first base side of the base?
Although McCarthy clearly stepped onto the "prior" side of second base, he did so not as part of an attempt to return (see
forced to return, above), but incidentally as part of a recovery from an off-balance slide
as he attempted to advance to third. Thus, because the runner was not intending to return, there was no retouch requirement; accordingly, the call was confirmed because the runner did touch second base at some point during the sequence.
Video as follows:
