Game 160 – A Game of Firsts

Thanks to some rain Scott Richmond picked up his 1st major league win, CG, and shutout. Richmond made it through 6 complete innings for the 1st time and it ended up being enough to get the CG as the game was called in the top of the 7th. Richmond also did not allow his usual 3 runs instead allowing none. He gave up 4 hits, walked none, and struck out 3. Only 1 runner even reached 2nd base.

Chris Waters ran his scoreless streak against the Jays to 14 innings before the Jays finally broke through in the 6th. Rolen came up w/a 2 strike 2 out ground rule 2B to drive in 1. That put runners at 2nd and 3rd but Snider was robbed of a hit by Markakis to end the inning.

In the 7th the Jays got right back at it as Thigpen led off the inning w/his 1st career HR. But wait, after a pair of hits and an RBI ground out by Bautista the umpires called for the tarp and the game went into a delay. After over an hr the game was finally called leaving the Jays w/the win but it put into question whether Thigpen’s HR would stand. I myself wasn’t sure at first as I knew they changed the rules about 3 or 4 yrs ago regarding games being suspended and called early. I know the rule changes had more to do w/if the visiting team tied the game or took the lead in the current inning w/o it being complete the game would be suspended instead of going back to the last complete inning and ruling the home team the winner. Another change made was if a game was tied after the last complete inning it would be suspended and continued from the point it left off whereas before the game would be played again in its entirety, but the stats would count (so yes it was possible to have a tie in baseball). What I didn’t know is whether the stats now counted for the partial inning if they did not affect the outcome of the game. Apparently even the players didn’t know and it was reported that Thigpen had tossed away the ball in the clubhouse. Eventually they found out that all the stats counted and Thigpen retrieved the ball.

Checking the stats:
NAdv: Wells (9)
P-NAdv: Waters
WG: Rolen (14), Markakis