Two balls, two outs

Here’s Doug Dascenzo’s take on the wild sequence in the bottom of the seventh that featured two baseballs – and two outs – for the Wizards.

Luis Martinez was initially ruled safe trying to move from first to third on a single by Drew Cumberland. It appeared the ball was loose, but in reality home plate umpire Jared Gary dropped another ball while racing over to call the play. Martinez was called out when third baseman Pedro Baez showed he indeed did hold on to the ball. Drew Cumberland, thinking the ball on the ground was the one in play, took off for second and was easily thrown out.

“It was a bizarre play. Jared was in a good position (to call the play at third) and the next thing you know the ball apparently came out of his ball bag and was on the ground. It screwed everybody up. There’s not a whole lot we can do right there,” Dascenzo said.

“Cumberland just has to go on what he sees. There was no time called. The ball is in play, but it’s just a wild thing that just happened and a tough break for us.”

The Wizards would go on to lose, 5-3.

-          By LaMond Pope of The Journal Gazette