*  *  *  *  Edited April 4, 2017 at 2:15 pm PT  *  *  *  *

Monday’s Opening Day at Dodger Stadium was great on so many levels. In addition to their usual great opening ceremonies, the Dodgers themselves put on a record-setting spectacle that will be remembered by Dodger fans for a very long time – especially Clayton Kershaw‘s pitching masterpiece (again), Joc Pederson‘s third-inning grand slam home run that absolutely crushed the Padres’ hopes of getting to the aforementioned Dodgers ace, and of course switch-hitting Dodger catcher Yasmani Grandal‘s two home runs – one from each side of the plate.

But lost in all of the hype, hoopla and other festivities on a great day (unless you’re a Padres fan, that is) was a base-running “situation” that was both very good and very bad.

First the bad part. With Yasiel Puig on first base after a leadoff walk to begin the seventh inning and a one-out single to Padres right fielder Hunter Renfroe off the bat of Dodgers rookie left fielder Andrew Toles to move Puig over to second base, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager hit what should have been a routine single to Renfroe as well. Apparently believing that the Wild Horse base-running Puig would attempt to score from second on Seager’s hit – which would have been suicide – Toles rounded second base at full speed and was ten feet away from third base when he realized that Puig was standing on the bag. As most baseball fans know, if two runners occupy the same base, a sharp fielder need only tag both runners and both would be out.

Now the good part. It’s clear that Puig, himself notorious for his TOOTBLAN’s  (Thrown Out On The Basepaths Like A Nincompoop), as they are affectionately called) – was well aware of this two-men-on-the-same-base rule and he immediately broke for home which, when you think about it, was absolutely brilliant. Puig certainly knew that the best outcome in an otherwise very bad situation would be to at least have Toles end up safe at third base while his own chances of making it home safely were somewhere between slim and none – and he wasn’t.

The problem is, Toles stopped dead in his tracks, turned, and began running back towards second base with Puig now caught dead-to-rights in a true pickle. Fortunately, somewhere along the way Toles realized that returning to second base – which he easily would have made – was not the wise move when Puig was about to fall of his sword for him. Puig indeed kept the rundown going long enough for Toles to make it safely to third base before Puig was tagged out at home in your routine 9-3-2-5-3 caught stealing (although it was actually a very close play at the plate).

An alert Andrew Toles scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning of Monday’s contest. Things didn’t work out quite as well for him in the seventh inning. (Photo credit – David Crane)

But alas, instead of having the bases loaded and Justin Turner at the plate and only one out, the Dodgers most recent feared batter stepped into the batters box with two outs and runners at second and third (Seager had advanced to second in this melee) and promptly lined out to Padres center fielder Manuel Margot from which Puig would have easily scored from third base but for the Toles base-running gaff.

In the big scheme of things, that one (or more) lost run would have had zero affect on the final outcome in the Dodgers 14-3 rout of the Padres, but the heads-up base-running by Puig most certainly should not go unnoticed.

Toles, not so much … although he’s obviously a very fast learner, having made it from Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga to the major leagues last season.

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  *  *  *  *  Edited April 4, 2017 at 2:15 pm PT  *  *  *  *  

I neglected to confirm the official MLB rule regarding two players occupying the same base before posting this article. Per MLB rule 5.06:

5.06 Running the Bases

(a) Occupying the Base

(2) Two runners may not occupy a base, but if, while the ball is alive, two runners are touching a base, the following runner shall be out when tagged and the preceding runner is entitled to the base, unless Rule 5.06(b)(2) applies.

(b) Advancing Bases

(2) (7.03(b)) If a runner is forced to advance by reason of the batter becoming a runner and two runners are touching a base to which the following runner is forced, the following runner is entitled to the base and the preceding runner shall be out when tagged or when a fielder possesses the ball and touches the base to which such preceding runner is forced.

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Apologies for any confusion I may have caused.