Machado embarrassed by baserunning gaffe

October 27th, 2018

LOS ANGELES -- Manny Machado admitted he was wrong.
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In the aftermath of the Dodgers' 3-2 victory in 18 innings in Friday's Game 3 of the World Series to cut the Red Sox's advantage to two games to one, the exhausted shortstop took a moment from the celebration to address his biggest mistake of the game.
With his team leading Boston, 1-0, Machado thought he got all of a Joe Kelly pitch with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the low liner hit only one-third of the way up the left-field fence and Machado was held to a single when J.D. Martinez played the carom and returned the ball to the infield.
"At first, I didn't think it was going [out], but then I saw it take off up," Machado said. "I kind of thought it was going to go out. That was very, very, very, very poor baserunning by me. I probably wasn't going to be on second base, but it was very embarrassing."
Machado has come under fire from Dodgers fans and media for not hustling multiple times since he was acquired from the Orioles at the All-Star break in a 5-for-1 deal. Although he has filled a big hole in the lineup, he has also failed to run out double-play grounders.
When it happened during the National League Championship Series, Machado said in an interview that he'd never be "Johnny Hustle."
On this single, Machado's exit velocity was 106 mph at a 19-degree launch angle. According to Statcast™, similar batted balls are homers just 22 percent of the time. He went from home to first base in 7.17 seconds.