A complete explainer of the insane rule that gave the Red Sox a free run against the Toronto Blue Jays

It's one of the weirdest plays you will ever see. In the top of the seventh, the Boston Red Sox had runners on the corners with one out...but almost everyone in the stadium thought there were two down, because that's what the scoreboard showed. So when Ceddanne Rafaela flied out to center fielder Brett Bateman, the runners just continued to jog around the bases without tagging up.

Bateman then threw the ball into second baseman Josh Smith, who flipped it over to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base, who stepped on the bag and that gave the Blue Jays a double play since Nick Sogard never tagged at first. Toronto left the field to get ready to hit.

However, the umpires came together on the field to begin a discussion that would delay the game for 17 minutes. They were under the impression that there was a rule that would have allowed the runner on third (Anthony Seigler) to score, since he technically crossed the plate, before the Blue Jays got the out at first.

But should that even matter if the Blue Jays got the force out on the double play? According to MLB Rule 5.09 (c)(4) "if the third out of an inning is made during a play where an appeal out is also sustained on another runner, the defense can use the appeal decision to take the more advantageous out."

This is also known as the "fourth out rule" and comes into play probably once a century. According to this rule, the Blue Jays could have made the out at first, then thrown to third on an appeal and that would have crossed off Siegler's run from the scoreboard. But because the Blue Jays left the field of play, and never asked for the appeal, and Siegler crossed the plate before the Blue Jays officially made the out at first, that run was allowed to stand.

What Blue Jays' manager John Schneider tried to argue on the field was that the home plate umpire, Charlie Ramos, was waving off the run as Siegler came in. In his mind, it was a good old fashioned double play. Schneider said that the actions of Ramos, waving off the run and bringing the Blue Jays off the field negated their need to ever consider making an appeal.

On one hand, you have to at least give Crew Chief Chris Guccione the credit for admitting to a live crowd that they had no idea what was happening and needed to call the MLB replay review room in New York to make an official call. On the other - it is a rule that just doesn't make a ton of baseball sense. You're basically rewarding the runner for leaving the bag early and punishing the defensive team for making the right play, but not the "official" play.

If that's going to be enforced, runners should just not tag at third with a guy on first, just to see if they can catch the defensive team napping. The other part of this is the Red Sox not knowing how many outs there are and Schneider reiterated in his postgame comments that the scoreboard is operated by MLB staff, not staff of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Regardless of the ruling, the Blue Jays managed to make sure it didn't cost them the game. It was the only run the Red Sox scored as Toronto went on to win 2-1 in a tight contest that could have playoff implications. The Blue Jays (57-63) are three games out of the final Wild Card spot while the Red Sox (64-54) fall two back of the New York Yankees for the top spot in the Wild Card chase.

Blue Jays fans had a sense of déja vu in the seventh inning

Rewind the clock to 11 years ago, and you may remember another significant play where the Blue Jays gave up a run thanks to a bizarre rule on a non-call by the umpiring crew. In Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS, Blue Jays' pitcher Aaron Sanchez threw a ball to Texas Rangers hitter Shin-Soo Choo that was taken high.

Catcher Russell Martin then proceeded to throw the ball back to Sanchez, but the ball hit the outstretched bat of Choo, and bounced up the third base line. Immediately, home plate umpire Dale Scott started waving his arms and calling for time, calling it a dead ball, but Roughned Odor scampered home to score the go-ahead run to make it 3-2 for the Rangers.

After a review, the run was upheld and then Blue Jays' manager John Gibbons asked to play the game in protest. Toronto argued two things on the play, the first being that Choo was holding his bat over the plate, which should have been called for interference, sending Odor back to third. The second thing they argued was that Scott immediately calling time out, meant the Blue Jays gave up on the play since there was no play to be made.

Upon review, they were wrong about Choo's bat. He wasn't holding it over the plate, Martin's throw was just in the worst spot possible in that situation. However, there was never any good reason given for Scott calling the play dead. He was in the wrong on that one, but there was nothing the Blue Jays could do about it in the moment.

No worries, though. Just like they did against the Red Sox on Monday night, the Blue Jays also came through in a big way against the Rangers after that gaff. You might've heard there was a pretty big home run hit in the bottom half of that inning that led to Toronto's series victory.

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