For eyes only: Mets, Dodgers puzzled by visual obstruction call that gave New York a run

NEW YORK (AP) — Max Muncy couldn’t believe his eyes when umpire Tripp Gibson called visual obstruction on the Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman, giving the New York Mets a run.

“It’s just a unique play that doesn’t usually happen,” Muncy said Saturday, a day after the Dodgers’ 7-5, 13-inning win in a rematch of last year’s NL Championship Series.

With Los Angeles leading 3-1 in the fourth inning, Pete Alonso hit a 252-foot fly to Teoscar Hernández. The right fielder made a 91.6 mph throw on the fly to catcher Will Smith, who tagged the sliding Starling Marte as plate umpire Ryan Blakney signaled out.

Third base umpire Gibson called obstruction on Muncy, who was standing where the dirt met the infield grass, for blocking Marte’s view of Hernández making the catch. Marte was ruled safe.

“For me on that play you have to be in the area because if he runs halfway and stops and the first baseman cuts it, you have to be at the bag to go to make a play,” Muncy said. “It’s not one of these things where in my head I was like: I’ve got to block his view. No, that wasn’t it. It was just you’re walking forward and you’re paying attention to the play and you just happened to be in his way.”

Gibson made a similar call in the 13th inning on Mets third baseman Brett Baty for obstructing Hernández’s view of Andy Pages’ fly to right fielder Juan Soto. That call got less attention because Soto threw to first to double up Hyeseong Kim as Hernández crossed the plate for a two-run lead.

“Never seen it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Two times in one game, two times too many.”

Major League Baseball said the call was type two obstruction under rule 6.01 (h).

Muncy spoke with Gibson about his decision.

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“He said I was too intentional about getting in his way,” Muncy recalled. “My fightback was I’m 10 feet away from the bag. If I’m standing right next to him, it’s obviously obstruction, but I’m 10 feet away from the bag. There’s no way that I could be blocking that view. He said: ‘You have no business being in this area.’ And I said: ‘Well, if he cuts the ball, I’ve got to be there to make a play,’ and he didn’t have anything to say about that.”

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza also was surprised.

“That’s something that we’re going to have to follow up,” he said. “I’ve never seen this play being called like that. Honestly, as a former infielder, I did it a lot.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb