Confusing ruling on Red Sox fan interference results in run scored against Cardinals

The series opener between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox has been a high-scoring affair, but the way the Red Sox were awarded their eighth run caused a lot of confusion for both fanbases.

During the bottom of the fifth inning, Red Sox second baseman Kristian Campbell popped up a fly ball down the right field line. Jordan Walker caught the ball on the run as he stumbled into the side wall, but a Red Sox fan had his arms into the field of play, touching Walker as he was catching the ball and resulting in fan interference.

Where the confusion came for both sides was what happened next. Triston Casas, who was standing on third base at the time, tagged up and scored what was the Red Sox's eighth run to make the score 8-5. Immediately after throwing the ball home on that play, Walker began signaling to the umpires about the interference.

The Cardinals were granted fan interference, but the Red Sox were still awarded a run.

What came next was a long deliberation from the umpiring crew that even resulted in a call to New York after the Cardinals challenged their original decision. Eventually, the umpiring crew ruled that the run still counted even with the fan interference occurring.

While that is super confusing on the surface, and I don't blame you for disagreeing with the ruling, if you watched the play live and then the replays following, I can see why this was the conclusion the umpires came to.

Walker, although he was contacted by the fan in the stands who was reaching his arms out to catch the ball as well, had his momentum going away from home plate and would have had a very, very difficult throw home regardless of the fan making contact with him. If the Cardinals did not want that run to score on the play, Walker would have needed to let that ball drop. He caught it, the throw was late, and even though there was interference, it does not seem likely that it impacted the play.

On one hand, I find it frustrating that fan interference can occur but the decision on what it does to the play can change based on umpire discretion, but at the same time, if the roles were reversed, I am sure Cardinals fans would have thought it was crazy if they had a run taken away on a similar play. @BobbyMeredith2 on X did make an interesting point though. If Walker had not caught the ball and that fan still interfered, the batter may have been ruled out and Casas' run may not have counted, eventually resulting in that eighth run being stranded.

While that is super interesting, there is no way Walker could have known that fan was going to interfere, so please do not blame Walker for that specifically. You can quarrel with him on whether he should have let the ball drop, but I'm not going to be frustrated by him making a tough play to make the out, which ninety-nine out of one hundred times is the play you want him to make.