Rare fourth out confuses everyone as Blue Jays hold on to down Red Sox

The Blue Jays held on to beat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 on Monday night at Rogers Centre in a game that turned chaotic in the top of the seventh inning.

The Red Sox scored their lone run after a rare sequence of events where the umpires essentially granted Boston a fourth out.

Confusion began before that when the scoreboard, which is controlled by Major League Baseball, wrongly indicated there were two outs instead of only one.

Believing what they saw, Boston runners took off from first and third base on a fly ball to centre field. After both teams had left the field and after a considerable wait, the four umpires, in consultation with officials in New York, decided they were obligated to allow the lead runner to score because he crossed home plate before the final out of the inning was recorded.

Crew chief Chris Guccione called it a timing play.

“It is a play you don’t see very often, so there is some confusion,” Guccione told a pool reporter afterward. “We felt it was it our obligation to correct the error.”

Players on both teams were confused and both managers, Boston’s Chad Tracy and Toronto’s John Schneider, debated with the umpires at length.

Fans did the wave during the wait with Red Sox players joining in.

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“This should be fun,” Schneider said after the game as he addressed broadcasters and journalists and tried to explain what had happened. “The umpires overturned it on their own.”

Schneider said that Boston did not challenge the call and that the Blue Jays were not allowed to make an appeal because their infielders had left the field.

“There was a lot of discussion,” Schneider said. “I’m glad we didn’t lose by one run. I was told we needed to appeal but weren’t given an opportunity.

“Everyone assumed the inning was over. We all react to what we see.”

A pair of players who were called up earlier in the day played a role in the victory. Rookie third baseman Charles McAdoo hit a home run in the fifth inning to put Toronto up 1-0, and Simeon Woods Richardson earned the victory after throwing three innings in relief of starter Jameson Taillon, who exited with right forearm discomfort.

Woods Richardson gave up four hits and one run. Louis Varland came on in the ninth inning to earn his 25th save.

The teams continue the four-game series on Tuesday with Toronto pitching ace Dylan Cease facing Patrick Sandoval of the Red Sox.