Indians Watch: Yu Chang tries to pull off same play twice but costs the team a win

The Indians were in a tight contest with the Chicago White Sox last night, taking a 3-3 tie into the bottom of the night. That’s when the Indians would throw the game away; literally. Now, no game is ever reduced to just one play. To make that assertion is to be place blame on one person unnecessarily. So it’s best to remember that when Yu Chang skipped a ball off of a baserunner’s head, it wasn’t just his fault the Tribe loss.

After all, the Indians had the bases loaded earlier in the game, down 3-2 and Franmil Reyes was only able to get one in on a sacrifice fly. A double clears the bases and makes Chang’s ninth-inning error moot.

The sad thing is, the play wasn’t hard for Chang. In fact, it was so “not hard” that Chang literally pulled the same type of double play three innings earlier. Chang, both times, tried to go and throw to second to get the lead runner, and then the ball came back to get the hitter at first.

The first time that worked, with then pitcher Cal Quantrill covering first for Chang.

https://twitter.com/BallySportsCLE/status/1381793149253718020

The second time? Not so much…

The ironic thing is that both times, the play centered around Chang and White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Yasmani was the one that grounded out to Chang, where the double-play was turned. In the bottom of the ninth, Grendal was already on first after being walked when Chang tried to turn the double play, and instead beamed Grendal in the dome.

Sometimes baseball is a weird, and unpredictable sport. It may not always be as flashy and exciting as basketball or as destructive and wild as football, but if you appreciate irony then baseball is the sport for you.