Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs slid past second base Thursday while hitting a double against the New York Mets. But as he was being tagged, he kept contact with the base by extending the helmet he held in his hand. (Watch the video below.)
Crow-Armstrong’s hit gave Chicago a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning and stirred questions from the Mets’ broadcast team: Was the helmet reach legal?
Steve Gelbs, the Mets field reporter for SNY, reached out to Major League Baseball and said he was told that Crow-Armstrong should have been called out.
Although this specific situation is not addressed in the rule book, according to Gelbs, the runner would have been out if the play had been reviewed. It was not.
“You cannot use equipment like that to gain an advantage,” Gelbs said.
Crow-Armstrong did not score in that inning, and the Mets eventually won the game in the 11th inning, 7-6.
So Mets fans at Citi Field got to see something highly unusual and a home-team victory.