Major League Baseball

Giants mistakenly bat out of order against Dodgers

Published Jul. 7, 2013 1:37 a.m. ET

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The San Francisco Giants were caught batting out of order against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, wiping away Buster Posey's RBI double in the first inning.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy submitted a lineup card that had Posey batting fourth. So after Posey hit third in Pablo Sandoval's spot to give the Giants a 1-0 lead, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called out the mistake to umpires.

Posey was ruled out but got to bat again in the fourth spot, ending the inning on a fly out to right field. Posey had batted third in 15 straight games until Friday night.

The Giants also had Posey batting third in the digital lineup in the clubhouse and on papers passed out in the press box - but not in the official lineup card submitted to the Dodgers and umpires. Bochy even talked before the game about wanting to return Posey permanently to the fourth spot with Sandoval healthy again and San Francisco struggling.

''Call it superstitious, I'm going back to where we did have success - that's Pablo in the 3-hole and Buster in the 4-hole,'' Bochy said.

The move might have been a bit of redemption for Mattingly.

After separate ejections of manager Joe Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer in the Dodgers' 7-5 loss to San Francisco on July 20, 2010, Mattingly made his own mistake while he was the hitting coach. Mattingly went to the mound for a chat with closer Jonathan Broxton in the ninth inning before Andres Torres came up. Mattingly took a few steps back off the dirt toward the dugout before turning around and advising first baseman James Loney exactly where he wanted him positioned.

Bochy came out to protest to plate umpire Adrian Johnson that Mattingly's about-face constituted a second trip to the mound. The umpires huddled and agreed, and Broxton had to leave the game. Mattingly was forced to summon George Sherrill, who promptly served up Torres' two-run double that gave the Giants the lead.

Bochy's blunder wasn't his first with the lineup this season - and not even his first involving Posey.

The NL All-Star manager took responsibility for putting Posey in the wrong spot in the lineup during a double switch in the 13th inning of San Francisco 5-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on June 17. Posey never got a chance to hit in the game.

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