Did Baltimore's official scorer just rob Wells of a single?

[stymie38]

Today's Jays/O's game... Top of the 4th, two out, Alex Rios is the runner on first.

Vernon Wells grounds to the hole at short, and Rios beats the throw to 2nd. But Rios, thinking he has been called out on a force play, wanders off the bag and gets tagged by 2B Brian Roberts for the third out.

Apparently it's been ruled an FC, but why hasn't Wells been awarded an infield single? If Rios safely reached second base, how is this any different than a runner being thrown out at 3rd trying to go from 1st to 3rd on a single??

I've scored enough in my day to know that every base has to be accounted for. The fact that Rios had to be tagged out, indicated that he had reached 2nd safely.

If I'm a Vernon Wells owner, I'm not happy.

[Onions]

Today's Jays/O's game... Top of the 4th, two out, Alex Rios is the runner on first.

Vernon Wells grounds to the hole at short, and Rios beats the throw to 2nd. But Rios, thinking he has been called out on a force play, wanders off the bag and gets tagged by 2B Brian Roberts for the third out.

Apparently it's been ruled an FC, but why hasn't Wells been awarded an infield single? If Rios safely reached second base, how is this any different than a runner being thrown out at 3rd trying to go from 1st to 3rd on a single??

I've scored enough in my day to know that every base has to be accounted for. The fact that Rios had to be tagged out, indicated that he had reached 2nd safely.

If I'm a Vernon Wells owner, I'm not happy.

No, the scorekeeper has made the correct ruling here. It's a FC.

The runner isn't considered to safely reach second in this case...Much like a basestealer "stealing a bag" but being ruled out when he slides past base (No SB in that case either).

[stymie38]

Fair enough. Thanks.

But it begs another question. At what point is it assumed that Rios HAS reached second base safely? When time is called by the umpire? Because on many plays, time is NOT always called.

Again, going back to the scenario in my original post... a baserunner tries to advance from first to third on a single... but is thrown out at third. The batter is still credited with the single -- despite the fact that time was never called.

In both cases, second base was reached safely. What happens to the runner AFTER that... shouldn't diminish the fact that the batter got him there, no?

I realize that baseball ain't always fair. It just seems to me that -- in this case -- Wells is being penalized by Rios having a brain cramp.

[walkoffblast]

I would have to see the play but I agree that it seems like Wells should be awarded a hit. My guess is that technically the play is supposed to be treated like the overslide scenario even though that is not what happened at all.