Eric Haase finds himself squarely in the spotlight right now. His wild throw to third in an attempt to start a rundown led to the Detroit Tigers‘ defeat on Tuesday, with two runs scoring as the Minnesota Twins completed a wild comeback victory. Although it is early in the year, these are the types of victories that can galvanize a team, or set a team back.
It is, however, unfair to lay the blame entirely upon Haase. That final plate appearance led to a comedy of errors where the defense would have been more at home in the Major League movies than on a major league diamond.
Detroit Tigers as a whole to blame for loss
Let us go back to the beginning of the bottom of the ninth. Gregory Soto did not do himself, nor the Tigers, any favors by walking the first two batters he faced. He did strike Max Kepler out on three consecutive fastballs, but having runners on first and second with one out and the dangerous Miguel Sano at the plate is still a dangerous situation.
Sano hit a hard line drive to deep right. However, Robbie Grossman appeared to have tracked the ball down, only to see it hit off the top of his glove and fall in. He was, however, able to recover quickly, getting to the ball and firing it in to the cutoff man.
Everything unraveled further from that point on. Jonathan Schoop made a terrible throw up the first base line from home, clearly rushing the throw to attempt to get an out at the plate or attempt to keep the tying run at third. While Trevor Larnach was getting back to the bag, Gio Urshela was also heading towards third. A rundown seemed inevitable.
Haase clearly thought the same. He made a throw to try to get the lead runner in a pickle, but made a wild throw to third. In this situation, the left fielder should have been heading over to back up third in case of a wild throw, and to take the third baseman’s spot in the event of a rundown. However, Austin Meadows had inexplicably wandered into center, leaving that area wide open. By the time Javier Baez was able to track down the errant throw, it was too late – Urshela had crossed the plate and the Twins had an improbable victory.
The box score will make it seem simple. Soto did not have anything, and an ill-fated throw from Haase led to a comeback victory for the Twins. However, this defeat was truly a team effort, with plenty of blame to go around. Haase certainly does not deserve all of the blame.
Eric Haase is getting blamed for the Detroit Tigers’ loss due to his errant throw. However, that loss was a true team effort during the Twins’ final plate appearance.