Minor Leaguer Hits Walk-Off Single, His Team Loses Game

The Lansing Lugnuts, the Blue Jays Single-A affiliate, managed to lose a baseball game in the worst possible way when they took on the Great Lakes Loons on Monday night.

Skip ahead to the 1:17-mark of the video above, and you'll see Lugnuts outfielder Chris Hawkins, at the plate with two outs and the bases loaded, smack what should have been a game-winning, walk-off single right back up the middle. Hawkins is mobbed by his teammates as he nears first base, and the runner who was standing on first base joins the celebratory scrum rather than running to second. Therein lies the problem.

The Loons' center fielder scoops up the ball and throws it to second base, recording a force out on the runner who was at first. After having the play pointed out to them by the Loons' head coach, the umpires conferred and ruled that the game was still tied 4-4, because the run scored on the hit was negated by the force out at second base. The teams were brought back out onto the field to continue playing, and the Loons went on to win 5-4 in the tenth inning.

The lesson here, as it often is, is that baseball can be a real bastard.

h/t Anna

[ MiLB]