Major League Baseball

Cardinals' Carpenter stays safe by leaping Reds catcher

Published Apr. 18, 2015 10:04 a.m. ET

foxsports

Collisions at the plate between baserunners and catchers have decreased with baseball's rule aimed at limiting them. With player safety in mind, that's a very good thing.

The latest example of the lack of collisions came Friday as the St. Louis Cardinals faced the Cincinnati Reds. After the Cardinals' Matt Holliday hit a shallow fly ball in the bottom of the first inning that was caught by Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton, Matt Carpenter tagged up at third base and headed home, sidestepping and hopping over Reds catcher Brayan Pena to avoid the tag.

Carpenter said he had two options but ultimately chose the one that left neither player with any harm.

"I either could run through him or go over him," Carpenter said. "At the last (second), I saw the opportunity to go above him and it ended up working out. I've never done anything like that."

Without MLB's rule to limit home-plate collisions, Carpenter likely never considers doing anything but barreling into Pena. The rule has clearly made players think.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.