WATCH: White Sox lose game with winning run at the plate after umpire’s controversial interference call
Talk about the worst calls made this season, the ninth-inning interference call against the Chicago White Sox's Andrew Vaughn should be at the top of the pile. It was an exciting Thursday night game between the Baltimore Orioles and the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox were mounting a late-inning comeback before an interference call by the umpire went against them.
Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Orioles were up 8-2, with the game seemingly in the bag, but the White Sox had other ideas. They surged with four runs, taking the game to 8-6 when the incident happened.
With runners at first and second with one out, Andrew Benintendi hit a popup to Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson. The infield fly rule was called, and the umpires determined that Andrew Vaughn, the runner at second, had interfered with Henderson. The runner was called out, effectively ending the game.
That was followed by White Sox manager Pedro Grifol coming out to dispute the call, but it was already a done deal. A closer look at the plate saw Henderson making slight contact with Vaughn, who was tracking back to second base.
However, the contact seemed to be minimal, and even the announcer believed that it was unintentional.
Here's the video:
If not for the interference call, the Orioles still had one out to edge out a historic comeback. Sadly, it won't go into the books now.
Orioles withstood White Sox's late inning comeback
The Orioles offense was on full throttle on Thursday as they piled up eight runs and eventually came out winners with an 8-6 win.
The Orioles scored four runs in the fourth and three in the sixth inning to bolster their lead. Second baseman Jorge Mateo hit a go ahead three run homer in the fourth. Anthony Santander also hit a home run, while Adley Rutschmann had three RBIs.
In the ninth, six straight hitters went to base, out of which four scored. Jonathan Heasley walked Corey Julks and Danny Mendick before allowing a single to Tommy Pham on which Julks scored. That was followed by another hit from Nick Lopez, which prompted Orioles manager to bring in Yennier Cano from the bullpen.
However, the move wasn't great, as Cano hit by pitch Vaughn followed by Gavin Sheets' two-run RBI single. The Orioles brought in Craig Kimbrel before an interference call ended the game.