Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run

This has been a weird season for Boston Red Sox fans.

The team came into the year with incredibly low expectations, especially for one of MLB’s premier franchises. And for a good chunk of the early season, it very much looked like those low expectations would be met as the team sputtered to a 37-48 start to the season.

Then, the team ripped off an incredible 30-game stretch that included 27 wins and just three losses.

As MLB honored and pointed out, that winning stretch of baseball included a 15-game win streak, tying an 80-year-old franchise record.

Which brings us to Monday.

The suddenly red hot Red Sox were in Toronto to play the Blue Jays, and while Boston lost the game 2-1, it wasn’t without one of the stranger runs you could ever score in baseball — which seems appropriate given the roller coaster season in Beantown.

The chaos came to a head in the seventh inning, when the Red Sox had no outs and runners on first and second base, per ESPN.

The Blue Jays would force a first out, before getting their second out shortly thereafter on a fly ball to center field.

(The scoreboard erroneously showed two outs before it happened.)

The Blue Jays then doubled up by getting a baserunner out as well. At this time, both teams assumed that was the third out and the end of the seventh inning.

Instead, there was instant confusion among the umpires and teams, before fans were eventually given a semblance of an explanation.

“What we have here is we have a time play meaning when the third out was made at first base with the runner not tagging up, the runner that was on third base also did not tag but crossed home plate before the third out was made at first base,” the crew chief would eventually announce on the field. “So we’re going to New York to do a rules check.”

In simpler terms, it appeared that a Red Sox runner crossed home plate before that third out was made, which was possible because the runner did not tag up, or keep contact with the base while the fly ball was in the air.

Further complicating matters, Toronto’s manager was unable to challenge the Boston runner not tagging up because the out had been called, and it appeared the inning was over regardless.

Instead, the replay center in New York would eventually confirm that Boston scored a run, making it a 2-1 game going into the final innings.

The entire ordeal was confusing — even to the team that was the beneficiary of the decision.

“It was a weird, very weird situation, where the players on both sides seemed to be confused on the outs,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said after the game.

A broken scoreboard in Toronto caused the Red Sox and Blue Jays to lose track of the outs in the seventh inning

Umpires called for a rules check on a “time play”, then allowed the runner on third to score despite not having tagged up due to the “fourth out rule” pic.twitter.com/dyqxbfeABX

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 11, 2026

Alas, it ultimately didn’t matter, as the Blue Jays closers were able to keep Red Sox bats cold.

The Red Sox-Blue Jays series continues tonight.

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