The Blue Jays lost another game on a bizarre baserunning blunder
The Toronto Blue Jays have gotten off to a slow start this season. They're just 10-11, third in the AL East -- which only has two teams above .500. They're an uber-talented team with arguably the best lineup in baseball, but the Blue Jays can't seem to get out of their own way.
That's both in a figurative and literal sense.
Toronto lost a game in unconventional fashion yet again on Monday night, falling to the Chicago White Sox 7-5. The bullpen blew a four-run lead, but it's the way that the game ended that's just "so Blue Jays" in 2016.
Trailing by two runs with two outs in the ninth inning, the Blue Jays were mounting a rally ... until Michael Saunders hit a high chopper to second base. It took a huge bounce off the bat and likely would have led to a base hit and loaded the bases had Troy Tulowitzki not made a colossal mistake.
Tulowitzki attempted to avoid the ball as he was running to second, but he was unable to do so. It bounced up and hit him in the arm, ending the game on the third out.
What's strange is that Tulowitzki clearly saw the ball, but thought he could scoot past it before it hit him. Obviously, that didn't happen.
"I've got to get to second base there so I'm trying to time it perfect," Tulowitzki said, via the News Observer. "The ball kicked back a little bit, hit me in my arm."
This isn't the first time the Blue Jays have lost a game due to a strange play. In the first week of the season, Toronto fell to the Rays on a game-ending double play due to Jose Bautista's illegal slide, under the league's new rule.
Rays challenge call that J Bautista didn't violate rule 6.01(j); call overturned, violation: https://t.co/gZO9nEcqxb pic.twitter.com/7O21hhws1u
— MLB Replay (@MLBReplays) April 6, 2016
The Blue Jays are finding every way to lose games, from blown leads to illegal slides. It's only a matter of time before they get back on the right track and begin to win games with their home-run-mashing lineup, but they have to get out of their own way first.
