How Do You Score That?: Toronto's Game 3 Walk Off Against Texas

The final play of Toronto Blue Jays' extra inning, game three, 7-6 victory that knocked out the American League regular season champion Texas Rangers, was an interesting one for all baseball scorers. (Final play at 0:38 below.)

Jays' Josh Donaldson led off the inning with a a double into the right-centerfield gap. With the game-winning run in scoring position the Rangers' Matt Bush walks Edwin Encarnacion to set up the double-play before striking out Jose Bautista swinging. 

Now here's where the drama comes in. With the Blue Jays catcher, Russell Martin at the dish, he hits a slow 3-2, ground-ball just to the left of shortstop Elvis Andrus. Making a move to his right, Andrus fields the ball and throws it low to second baseman Roughned Odor for the force out of Encarnacion. Trying to complete the double-play with the slow-footed Martin running down the line, Odor bounces a ball five feet in front of first baseman Mitch Moreland but the ball bounces off Moreland's glove and towards the outfield. 

While all this is happening on the right side of the infield, Donaldson was playing heads up baseball and scored the game-winning run with a head-first slide into the plate. Official scoring decision was a throwing error by Odor allowing Martin to reach base and allowing Donaldson to score in the process. 

However, there is some debate to the decision. According to Rule 9.12.d.3, "the official scorer shall not charge an error against any fielder who makes a wild throw in attempting to complete a double play or triple play, unless such wild throw enables any runner to advance beyond the base such would have reached had the throw not been wild." 

Applying this rule to the game-winning play in Toronto, Donaldson used great baseball instincts. With runners at first and second, Andrus could have opted to get the lead runner (Donaldson) at third on the infield chopper, but he didn't, he chose to try to turn the quintessential double play and threw to second. When Donaldson recognized this he was able to make a wide turn, thus not slowing himself down and he had a good view of first base and once the throw into first base was low he turned it into another gear, heading home. 

In the eyes of this official scorer, the throw to first did not allow Donaldson to score. It was Moreland's inability to keep the ball in front of him and allowing the ball to bounce of his glove towards the outfield that made it easier for Donaldson to slide in with the game-winner. If Moreland fielded the ball cleanly off the bounce or the ball bounced towards the plate, it would have been a closer play at the plate and maybe even the final out of the inning, preserving the tie. 

But it didn't, which is why an error to should have been assessed to the first baseman, Moreland, if you were to record an error. But the more I look at the play the more I see two things: heads up base-running by Donaldson who took advantage of two bad throws and an extraordinary effort from a first baseman to throw out Donaldson at the plate. So it would make perfect sense to remove the error all together.

Watch the play for yourself here at 0:38 and you make the call: