The Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates wanted to get more work in on Tuesday and to do so, they played a half-inning without umpires. That's because the umpiring crew left the field following the top of the ninth, after the Pirates had technically secured a 7-4 victory over the Orioles.
It should be noted that teams often negotiate the length of spring training games depending on the status of each club's pitching staff. On occasion, games will go longer or shorter than the regulation length, depending on whether or not clubs have additional pitchers they want to use in that particular game and on that particular day.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde agreed to play on so that Baltimore right-hander Ofreidy Gómez could throw an inning after making the trip to Bradenton. Hyde later told Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun that Major League Baseball had given them the go-ahead, but that the umpires weren't having it.
"We were told by the league that we could clear it by the umpires and pitch the bottom half of the ninth inning," Hyde said, "and I guess [crew chief] Chad Fairchild felt that we couldn't."
Without any umpires on the field, strike-calling duty fell to 24-year-old Orioles backstop Maverick Handley. Predictably enough, Handley even rewarded his own presentation work behind the plate. Take a look at the moving picture below, and make sure to note Handley's strike gesture:
The star of the show, Handley, played his collegiate ball at Stanford and spent last season at the Double-A level. He hit .236/.352/.417 with 11 home runs and 45 runs batted in. If nothing else, he can now add umpire to his résumé.
