Confusion over new slide rule plays role in Nats' 5-4 loss

At first glance, there wasn't much to the play in question. With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the sixth tonight, Detroit's Andrew Romine grounded to second baseman Daniel Murphy. It wasn't an especially hard-hit grounder, and there was little reason to think in that moment the Nationals had any chance of turning an inning-ending double play.

Which they didn't. Murphy threw to Danny Espinosa, who threw well late to Ryan Zimmerman. Anthony Gose was out at second, Romine was safe at first and Justin Upton scored the go-ahead run for the Tigers.

Except Murphy immediately pointed at Gose, whose slide had taken him well to the side of and beyond second base. Dusty Baker came out of the dugout to confer with the umpiring crew, then challenged the call, claiming Gose had violated Rule 6.01(j) and thus should be called for interference, giving the Nats an inning-ending double play.

Officials in New York disagreed, though, and that decision set in motion a chain of events that ultimately helped the Tigers capture a 5-4 victory and leave the Nationals clubhouse both upset and confused.

"From my understanding with the rule, Anthony did not try to touch the bag, and he did not hold the bag," Murphy said. "He went past it. With the rule that Major League Baseball gave us, the commissioner's office, that would be two violations."

Except that's not how Rule 6.01(j) reads. Here's how it reads: "If a runner does not engage in a bona fide slide, and initiates (or attempts to make) contact with the fielder for the purpose of breaking up a double play, he should be called for interference."

By MLB's definition, a runner who neither attempts to touch and then remain on a base has not made a "bona fide slide." And, as a league spokesman explained tonight, the replay official in New York indeed determined Gose did not make a bona fide slide and thus violated the first part of the rule.

But, in the opinion of that official, Gose did not violate the second part of rule, because he "didn't interfere with the fielder's ability to make the play," according to the spokesman.

Baker suggested he wasn't aware of the second part of the rule until it was spelled out by umpires after the call tonight.

"It was explained to me that the rule had changed," Baker said. "If he wasn't hindering the shortstop or second baseman from throwing the ball, there was no double play. We weren't aware that the rule had been changed. That's been a topic of discussion ever since it was invoked in spring training. We were told that that was the rule, and so they said he wasn't hindering the guy from throwing to first base, so therefore it wasn't a double play."

The MLB spokesman said no changes have been made to the rule since it was implemented at the start of the season.

The rule does not specify that a double play needs to be reasonably possible for interference to be called. If it did, the Nationals acknowledge they had no real chance to turn it.

"No," first baseman Zimmerman said. "I mean, that's the truth. It was a slow-hit ball. And Romine, he can run pretty well. But that's the one thing where the coaches have told us, when you have a guy on third, you have to go right into the base. That's just what we've signed off on, and what's been agreed to. But again, I don't know if the rule has changed or not. I'm not aware of it. I don't know."

Whatever the case, whether it's miscommunication or misapplication of the rule, the Nationals didn't respond well to the situation on the field. The play gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead, but then they added a key insurance run moments later when starter Joe Ross surrendered an RBI single to Miguel Cabrera. That proved important because Zimmerman's solo homer in the seventh (his second of the game) only trimmed the deficit to 5-4 instead of tying the game at 4-4.

Which ultimately made this loss sting a little bit more for the Nationals, even if the Tigers felt fortunate to be on the right side of the call.

"The rule says it has to alter the play or have an effect on the play," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. "And it didn't seem to have an effect on the turn of the double play. ...

"It helped. I did tell Gose don't ever slide like that again."