Why was Bae Ji-hwan’s ninth-inning grounder to shortstop an error when it could have been an infield single?

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bae Ji-hwan made his presence felt with a pair of hits and an RBI.

Bae went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday (July 30), starting in the No. 9 spot in the lineup.

Bae, who has hit safely in three straight games since April 28 against the Chicago Cubs, is batting .240 (60-for-250) with his 23rd RBI of the season. It had been five days since Bae added an RBI against the Cubs on Aug. 25.

In his first at-bat with two outs in the top of the third inning, Bae struck out on a three-pitch at-bat against left-hander Cole Ragans. The third pitch was a 97.5-mph fastball outside the zone.

But in the sixth inning, trailing 1-0, he led off with an infield single to open up the offense. On a 1B2S count, he took a low 97.4-mph fastball from Ragans, hit it in front of the second baseman and sprinted to first base for the out. He didn’t advance any further, however, as the next batter, Brian Hayes, struck out swinging and Brian Reynolds grounded out to third.

After striking out swinging in his third at-bat of the eighth inning, Bae provided a valuable RBI in the top of the ninth inning of the four-run big inning.

Pittsburgh extended its lead to 5-1 in the top of the ninth inning when Roberto Peguero hit a three-run homer to left field with runners on first and second. Zack Swinski followed with a triple to left to put runners on first and third. Bae then lined a 98.8-mph fastball off right-hander Stephen Cruz. The ball went two bounds and then in front of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. who was playing forward defense.

Witt, who fielded it short, took one look at home and threw to first. But the sprinting Bae was quick. On the official scoreboard, Witt Jr.’s fielding error allowed Bae to score. The slow-motion video shows that Witt Jr. juggled the ball once before throwing it to first base, meaning that Bae would have been out at first if he hadn’t juggled it.

Regardless of whether Witt Jr. made an error or not, the runner from third, Swinski, would have reached home, giving Bae a run. In the end, Bae’s RBI single gave Pittsburgh a 6-1 lead and put the game out of reach.

Pittsburgh finished with 60 wins and 73 losses, good for fourth place in the NL Central and the ninth wild card spot. After winning the first game of the three-game series 5-0 on the 29th, the Pirates clinched the best-of-seven series with a sweep in game two. If the Pirates take the series finale on Oct. 31, it will mark their second three-game sweep since the All-Star break and first since July 30 against the Philadelphia Phillies and Aug. 2 against the Detroit Tigers. A series sweep would also be the most recent since a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on June 28-30.메이저사이트

Kansas City, which has the second-worst winning percentage in both leagues combined behind the Oakland Athletics, has lost five straight to improve to 41.93. The Royals, who have dropped seven of their last eight series, need to win 16 of their remaining 28 games to avoid the franchise record 106 losses set in 2005.