Tiebreaker rule gets best of Wingnuts

On the list of ways the American Association’s new tiebreaker rule can impact a baseball game, Sunday’s result was relatively tame.

Technically, the rule could cause a pitcher who completed a perfect game to earn a loss, and it could swing a playoff series in favor of a team with one fast runner.

All it did on Sunday was turn a scoreless game into an offensive outburst, nullifying nearly spotless starting pitching as Lincoln scored four runs in the 11^th to beat the Wingnuts 4-2 at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

The rule, adopted from international baseball, states that the batter who made the last out of the 10^th inning starts the 11^th on second base. It affects strategy on both sides and could tamper with individual statistics in ways that can be difficult to explain.

For example, Lincoln catcher Ryan Wiggins, who began the top of the 11^th in scoring position, was credited with a run even though he never actually reached base safely, going 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts.

"It’s 0-0, back-and-forth, back-and-forth, and then you just let a guy go stand on second base," Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper said. "I’ve said my feelings about it from day one, and I don’t agree with it one bit. It’s our job to manage the game. Don’t throw somebody out there and have us make a decision."

The rule was adopted this season in an effort to ease the strain on relief pitchers, though the Wingnuts’ owners voted against it. Wichita avoided it with a couple 10-inning victories earlier this season, but it couldn’t summon a game-ending rally on Sunday, managing five hits over the first 10 innings.

It would take an extreme case, but a pitcher could lose a game without ever allowing a baserunner. The runner from second could advanced on a sacrifice bunt and be drive in with a sacrifice fly. The run wouldn’t be charged to the pitcher, but he would take the ultimate hard-luck loss.

A playoff game could be affected by which relievers a team has available or by the speed of the player who starts the 11^th on second base.

Sunday, the Wingnuts set up their bunt defense before Daniel Bennett threw a pitch in the 11^th inning. Leadoff batter Eddie Young didn’t bunt – he lined out – but Lincoln later had four RBI singles. Those were the Saltdogs’ first hits with runners in scoring position.

"I hope this is it, that we’re going to give (the tiebreaker) one year, because every manager I’ve spoken to isn’t a fan of it," Hooper said. "I guess (the league’s) thoughts on it are that it’s going to make the fans more excited. Realistically, when you’re in the 11^th, half the fans are gone, anyway.

"I’m sure you’ve got people wondering what the heck is going on, (thinking), ‘Nice rule,’ and then it ends the way that it ended."

The teams’ performances mirrored one another during the first 10 innings – difficulty hitting in the clutch and outstanding pitching. Lincoln’s Kevin McGovern and Wingnuts right-hander Tim Brown each pitched eight scoreless innings but each walked away with a no-decision.

In Wichita’s 11^th, the Wingnuts loaded the bases and Matt Padgett nearly tied it, but his fly ball was caught on the center-field warning track. Joash Brodin produced an RBI groundout before T.J. Mittelstaedt also flied to deep center.

The outs by Padgett and Mittelstaedt in the ninth were about as deflating as Joash Brodin being robbed of a home run by a leaping Matt Forgatch in left field in the fourth inning, and just as discouraging as watching a scoreless tie turn into a different brand of baseball after 10 innings.

"It was my first time ever dealing with it," Padgett said. "Those are the rules you’ve got to play by. It’s a little different, but it’s just something you’ve got to be ready for."

This story was originally published June 14, 2015 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Tiebreaker rule gets best of Wingnuts."