How seven mistakes by Cardinals, Cubs and umpires eventually led to proper ruling on infield fly rule

Home plate umpire and crew chief Bill Miller provided an explanation on Monday for a strange sequence during Sunday’s 4-2 victory by the St. Louis Cardinals over the Chicago Cubs — the 16th consecutive victory for the Cardinals.

Once you learn how seven mistakes were made on one single play, you will understand why the final decision was the correct one.

The play occurred after Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos walked pinch-hitter Austin Romine and Rafael Ortega with one out in the ninth inning. Frank Schwindel then popped up along the third-base line. Third-base umpire Gabe Morales immediately raised his right hand and called him out because of the infield fly rule. Because the ball was near the third-base line, Morales probably said, “Infield fly if fair.”

If the ball were to drop in foul territory, the play would have simply been a foul ball.

Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado slipped and fell in foul territory while trying to catch the ball. He couldn’t recover before the ball landed in the infield grass.

That’s when the mistakes started happening at a fast and furious pace.

Mistake No. 1: Romine took off for third base.

The infield fly rule exists so the defense can’t intentionally let the ball drop, then turn a quick double play. Runners must be at first and second base for the infield fly rule to be called by the umpires. The popup also must be ruled to be “easily caught” by a fielder.

The rule also states that if the ball drops, the runners can advance “at their own risk.” They are not forced to run, because the batter who hit the infield fly is immediately called out.

However, Romine chose to run to third — likely because he didn’t know he didn’t have to run when the ball dropped. His third-base coach definitely wasn’t waving him to third, especially with Arenado grabbing the ball after it dropped while standing a few feet from third base.

Mistake No. 2: Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong didn’t tag Romine.

After Arenado recovers, he fires the ball to DeJong at third base in plenty of time to tag Romine, who is out by at least five steps. Instead, DeJong fields the ball as if the force play was still in effect. Rewatch the video of the play, and you’ll notice Morales standing behind third base as DeJong takes the throw. Instead of calling Romine out, Morales is simply pointing to the sky — silently continuing to point out the infield fly rule is in effect.

Mistake No. 3: Ortega takes off for second base.

See Mistake No. 1. Did Ortega run because Romine took off? (Possibly.) Did Ortega run because the first-base coach told him to? (Probably not.)

Mistake No. 4: Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman didn’t tag Ortega BEFORE he reached second base.

The issue is the same as it was with DeJong not tagging Romine at third. Ortega ran “at his own risk,” and Edman should have tagged him out because the throw beat Ortega by at least five steps.

Mistake No. 5: Ortega casually overran second base instead of staying on the base, because Edman didn’t tag him.

If Ortega knew what he was doing, he would have stood on second when Edman started walking to the middle of the infield. Instead, he trotted a few feet past second base. Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt then motioned to Edman to tag Ortega, which he did.

Mistake No. 6: Second base umpire Paul Eddings punched an “out” signal when Edman thought he had forced out Ortega at second.

Miller told a pool reporter from the Associated Press what happened at that point.

“The second-base umpire, Doug Eddings, did not realize an infield fly was called, and so they throw the ball to second base, he called that guy out, Ortega, from first base,” Miller said. “He called him out on a force play. Ortega thinks he’s out, game’s over, whatever it is, walks off the base. And so now Goldschmidt’s yelling at whoever to tag the runner, and so before that runner was tagged, Doug says ‘Timeout, timeout,’ because (Eddings) knows the runner left the base because (Eddings) called him out.”

All of Miller’s statement makes perfect sense except for this line: “Eddings did not realize an infield fly was called.”

Really? A Major League Baseball umpire sees a popup on the infield with runners on first and second, and he doesn’t realize the infield fly rule was called? That sounds like Miller had a few hours to come up with a reason why the umpire completely blew the call. He comes up with, “Eddings didn’t know the infield fly rule was in effect.”

If that’s true, Eddings should be suspended for not knowing one of the game’s basic rules.

Mistake No. 7: When Edman reached out to tag Ortega, Eddings called time.

Miller spoke to the pool reporter, so he can’t explain what only Eddings could — why did he call time? Just a guess: Eddings knew he made a mistake after he “punched out” Ortega at second, then saw Goldschmidt motioning to Edman to tag Ortega out. Would Ortega have stayed at second and not wandered off had Eddings not motioned (incorrectly) that he was out? Possibly. 

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt went to the field to contest the call. Eddings is clearly seen saying, “I called time. I called time.” That is his explanation for why Ortega had to be allowed to remain at second base. That actually is the proper call — but only after he made the two previous mistakes.

Any good lip-reader watching the video can see Shildt saying to Eddings, “You f——ed it up.”

To summarize, the Cardinals made two mistakes. The Cubs made three. The umpires made two. The only people clearly demonstrating understanding of the play and the rule were Morales and Goldschmidt. Several professional athletes and umpires didn’t know what to do about a rule they all learned in Little League.

Finally, the final ruling of allowing the runners to remain at second and third with two outs was correct.

In the end, it didn’t matter much. Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos struck out Ian Happ to make the controversy for naught, and St. Louis extended its historic win streak to 16 games.