Intentional walk with first base occupied
Posted by Andy on July 7, 2010
Last night, David Ortiz was intentionally walked twice to bring Niuman Romero to the plate. Romero had been forced into the game after Kevin Youkilis left with an injury. What's odd about that? The first time it happened, first base was occupied and Ortiz was the go-ahead run, meaning the intentional walk put the tying run in scoring position. Click through for more info.
Here are times this season when there was a runner on first and the batter was intentionally walked. (There are three tables to cover the three different baserunner combinations in which it's happened in 2010.)
| Yr# | Gm# | Date | Batter | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2010-06-19 | Justin Morneau | MIN | @PHI | Danys Baez | tied 10-10 | t11 | 1-- | 1 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Mauer to 2B |
| 2 | 1 | 2010-07-06 | David Ortiz | BOS | @TBR | Lance Cormier | down 1-2 | t 7 | 1-- | 2 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Scutaro to 2B |
| Yr# | Gm# | Date | Batter | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2010-04-17 | Albert Pujols | STL | NYM | Fernando Nieve | tied 0-0 | b12 | 12- | 2 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Schumaker to 3B; Ludwick to 2B |
| 2 | 2 | 2010-04-17 | Henry Blanco | NYM | @STL | Joe Mather | ahead 1-0 | t19 | 12- | 2 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Wright to 3B; Bay to 2B |
| Yr# | Gm# | Date | Batter | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2010-04-07 | Carlos Ruiz | PHI | @WSN | Matt Capps | ahead 8-4 | t 9 | 1-3 | 2 | 5 (3-1) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Victorino to 2B |
| 2 | 1 | 2010-04-24 | David DeJesus | KCR | MIN | Matt Guerrier | tied 6-6 | b10 | 1-3 | 2 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Gordon to 2B |
| 3 | 1 | 2010-05-13 | Ian Kinsler | TEX | OAK | Craig Breslow | tied 1-1 | b10 | 1-3 | 2 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Young to 2B |
| 4 | 1 | 2010-05-26 | Erick Aybar | LAA | TOR | Scott Downs | tied 5-5 | b 9 | 1-3 | 1 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Rivera to 2B |
| 5 | 1 | 2010-07-02 | Hanley Ramirez | FLA | @ATL | Jonny Venters | tied 2-2 | t11 | 1-3 | 1 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Coghlan to 2B |
| 6 | 1 | 2010-07-04 | Chris Iannetta | COL | SFG | Guillermo Mota | tied 3-3 | b14 | 1-3 | 0 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Mora to 2B |
| 7 | 2 | 2010-07-04 | Carlos Gonzalez | COL | SFG | Guillermo Mota | tied 3-3 | b15 | 1-3 | 0 | 4 (3-0) | 0 | Intentional Walk; Herrera to 2B |
Most of these look like cases where the away team needed to load up the bases to set up a force at any base, or where the 8th-place hitter was walked to get to the pitcher's spot in the batting order.
When I started writing this, I thought the most recent case of an IBB with the bases loaded was against Barry Bonds in 1998. But when I searched, I see Josh Hamilton was intentionally walked with the bases loaded in 2008. The manager that day was the same as the one who called for the IBB last night--Joe Maddon.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Andy,
Believe you meant Scutaro was the tying run in your fourth sentence. Interesting strategy nonetheless.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Yup, thanks.
Ortiz was IBBed twice to get to Romero last night, including at the end of the game, and I got confused.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
It was the 7th, not the 9th, when Papi was IBB with a man on 1st. He was IBB in the ninth with 2 outs and a man on 3rd.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
i love any list in which Albert Pujols and Henry Blanco are right next to each other.
July 7th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
The Pujols and Blanco walks were, of course, from the 20 inning game between the Mets and the Cardinals, where there was a pitcher hitting behind Pujols for much of extra innings.
Mather issued 2 IBB that game and, if I recall correctly, they were the only 2 IBB issued by the Cardinals' staff until well into May.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Hey guys. I'm kind of new here and enjoy many of your blogs. I just wanted to point out that in the 3rd table, 5 of those 7 cases (2,3,4,6,7) came with the home team batting in the 9th inning or later of a tie game. In other words, the game-winning run was already on 3rd base, the runner at 1st base didn't mean anything, and so there was no harm in intentionally moving him to 2nd base. I think these situations are more understandable because it didn't put the defensive team at further risk, and as Andy said, it set up a force at any base.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Good point, Jeff -- and welcome to the B-R Blog
July 7th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
BTW Romero got designated for assignment today...
July 7th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Question;
Didn't O read somewhere that Hamilton got walked intentionally once this year -- with the bases loaded? {Shades of Larry LaJoie!}
July 7th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Welcome indeed, Jeff. We've had a lot of new readers ever since the Galarraga near-perfect game and the new folks are making great contributions.
July 8th, 2010 at 1:54 am
How about intentional walks with the bases loaded? How many times has that happened? once that I can recall. I think it was the Chicago White Sox playing the Seattle Mariners in the mid 90s. There were two outs in the last of the ninth, the White Sox leading 9-7, and Ken Griffey came to bat with Jay Buhner on deck. Ken Griffey got an intentional walk and the Sox still led 9-8. Jay Buhner then came to bat and struck out looking on a pitch on the outside corner, something he habitually did and the White Sox knew it.
July 8th, 2010 at 4:36 am
DesertSurfer, this is the game you are referring to, I think. Only, Griffey was not intentionally walked, at least according to the box score. He was unintentionally walked with the bases loaded, bringing up Buhner.
July 8th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
The Hamilton game, as Andy linked to, was 2008. The situation actually made sense. The Rays led the Rangers 7-3, and Texas had the bases loaded with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. Hamilton was having a monster year, and already had 2 hits, including an RBI double, in the game. A grand slam would've tied it. Walking him forced in a run, but it also bypassed one of the most dangerous hitters in the league, kept the force play at any base intact, and brought the much less dangerous Marlon Byrd to the plate. Byrd promptly struck out to end the game. Of course, it would've been an interesting postgame interview for Maddon had Byrd hit a granny to win it. 🙂
Calls like this are interesting to me. It's like going for it on 4th and short late in a close game in football. Statistically speaking, it's probably actually the smart call, but because it's not the traditional call, and it opens you up to such second guessing if it goes wrong, few people are willing to make it. I give credit to guys like Maddon (and Belichick) who have the guts to make the right, if unpopular, call.