Clippers, Mud Hens combine for bizarre ground out play
Talk about a ground out.
The Columbus Clippers and Toledo Mud Hens produced one of baseball’s most unique plays on Wednesday night.
In the bottom of the second inning, Clippers third baseman Ernie Clement sent an 0-1 pitch from Joey Wentz… into the ground.
Literally.
Clement, a Rochester native, appeared startled by the embedded ball, and stepped toward first, though Mud Hens catcher Dustin Garneau was on top of it and tagged Clement out.
The play seemed to stun everyone, including the broadcasting team.
“Clement, by the time he unwound himself … it didn’t even … are you kidding me?” the team’s play-by play announcer said while watching the play. “As we look at the replay here, the ball didn’t bounce at all. It buried in the infield dirt. A third of that ball is submerged!”
Columbus Clippers broadcaster Ryan Mitchell said a lot of fans at the game might not have realized what happened in the moment. Depending how much the grounds crew waters the area around home plate, balls can be chopped right into the dirt and not move much, he noted.
“It’s certainly not unprecedented but it is very, very unusual,” he said.
“To me that’s the best part of baseball is you can be coming to the ballpark every single day, all season long for season after season and season and there’s a really good chance you’re gonna see something at a ballpark you’ve never seen before,” Mitchell said. “and for a lot of people that were there tonight and the reaction online, most have never seen what happened at Huntington Park tonight.”
The Mud Hens, the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, went on to win, 4-0, over the Clippers, the top minor league team MLB’s Cleveland Guardians.
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