Throwing the ball away worked out ... this time

May 1st, 2019

Usually if a fielder throws the ball away while trying to make a play, that's bad news for his team. But for the Blue Jays on Tuesday night against the Angels, it all worked out for them in the end.

With two outs in the third, the Angels had Justin Bour on second base, Mike Trout at first and Brian Goodwin at the plate. Goodwin hit a ground ball to the right side, which Toronto second baseman Eric Sogard and first baseman Rowdy Tellez went to field. Sogard got to the ball first, and went to throw it to pitcher Clay Buchholz, who was covering first base. His throw was ... not good.

The ball got away from Buchholz, which seemed like good news for the Angels. However, Bour advanced to third and stopped there, while Trout very much did not stop at second and wound up at a third base already occupied by Bour. Trout was forced to retreat to second, where Buchholz fired the ball for the inning-ending out.

"It’s probably the first time I’ve been involved in anything like that in over 13 years, so it’s real nice that you’ll see something new every game," Buchholz said after Toronto's 4-3 loss. "That was a weird play, but I’m glad we got him."