Reds' Lorenzen hits improbable 3-run HR after controversial bunt call
During the sixth inning of Thursday's game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, reliever Michael Lorenzen was down to his final strike and continued to show bunt. When the inside delivery from Taylor Williams bounced off of Lorenzen's bat and went foul, Milwaukee believed they had recorded the second out of the inning.
However, due to the umpires ruling that Lorenzen attempted to pull back, the bunt was called off. And, on the very next pitch - after a short delay caused by Brewers manager Craig Counsell arguing the controversial call - Lorenzen blasted a three-run homer into the left-field seats of Great American Ball Park.
(Video courtesy: MLB.com)
"It was a very unusual play," crew chief Bill Welke said following the game, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. "I'm going to refer you to a couple of rules, which may clear this up. Rule 5.09 says a batter is out when he bunts foul on (the) third strike. But now we have to go to 'what is the definition of a bunt?' So if we go to the definitions in the rulebook, page 141, a bunt is a batted ball not swung at but intentionally met with the bat and tapped slowly within the infield. (Lorenzen) was in full retreat. It was not an intentionally-met not-swinging attempt. He was not attempting to hit that. Therefore, if he's not bunting, it just becomes a foul ball. (Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo's) responsibility was to make sure the first base umpire didn't have him attempting. That was just good umpiring on Tony's part. Make it clear. I know it was confusing for the people that weren't within it but that's why it was ruled he was not making an attempt."
Lorenzen's home run, the reliever's fourth of the year, put the Reds ahead 10-6 late in the game. However, thanks to a four-run seventh - with three runs scored off of Lorenzen - the Brewers were able to pull off the extra-innings victory to stay in the thick of a tight National League wild-card hunt.
"I didn't foul it off as a bunt. I fouled it off as a hitter," Lorenzen explained postgame, as if to call it a checked swing, per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. "I pulled the bat back trying to get out of the way ... I've never seen that before, never had that rule come up before.
"I know it was an up-and-in pitch, but I still thought he offered at the pitch," Counsell said, who argued the call without getting tossed from the game. "They didn't agree."