No. 2021.05.27 · Modern Era
Craig Chases Báez
A throw pulled Will Craig off first base with two outs. Instead of getting back to the bag, he chased Javier Báez toward home. Willson Contreras scored from second, and Báez ended up on second base.
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Will Craig with the Pirates, 2019 spring training. Not the 2021 play.
OfficerFrank66 / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
May 27, 2021, PNC Park, the Cubs in Pittsburgh. With two outs, Javier Báez hit a routine ground ball. The throw pulled first baseman Will Craig off the bag. The out was still available if Craig stepped back on the base. He ran after Báez instead.
Báez retreated toward home. Willson Contreras, the runner on second, came around and scored. Throws after that put Báez on second. Chicago won, 5–3. The next day Craig called it baseball 101.
The play is a rundown run backward. The first baseman left the base he was supposed to keep, the batter ran the wrong direction on purpose, and a run scored on a ball that had been an out. Craig's sentence the next day is the right size for it. The catalog does not need a larger one.
Film
Craig on the rundown
Will Craig, after the game, on the rundown with Javier Báez. The clip is his account, not the play.
Watch on MLB.com