Tommy Edman has plenty of experience playing at Wrigley Field due to spending the majority of his career in the National League Central with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Tuesday’s game provided Edman with the full experience as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs traded five-run innings and combined to score 21 runs. The night ended in disappointment for the Dodgers as the Cubs earned a walk-off win in the 10th inning.
The game got to that point in part by Miguel Amaya hitting a home run off Tanner Scott in the bottom of the ninth inning. Amaya’s fly ball to center field landed in the basket area on the Wrigley Field wall.
Edman expressed some frustration with the unique design that potentially prevented him from making a game-ending catch, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group
“The basket’s kind of annoying. If the basket isn’t there, it’s not a homer,” said Edman, giving chase from center field. “Just kind of a weird quirk of the ballpark. I thought I had a fairly good bead on it. Unfortunately it barely made it out.”
Scott, who blew his second save of the season, also referenced the Wrigley Field basket but otherwise noted a need for improved pitch location on the home run:
“Missed the location. That’s all it was. I missed the location,” Scott said. “Middle-middle is not very good in the big leagues.
“I thought he got a good piece of it. It went in the basket. Nothing I can do about it. I need to make a better pitch.”
Amaya’s game-tying solo home run traveled 388 feet. Wrigley Field dimensions list the center field wall at 400 feet from home plate, and left-center field is 368 feet.
Edman, Andy Pages, Will Smith, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker also hit home runs on a night the wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field.
Wrigley Field baskets
Wrigley Field was built in 1914, which makes it the second-oldest ballpark in baseball. It trails only Fenway Park, which has been home to the Boston Red Sox since 1912.
However, baskets at Wrigley Field were not part of the historic ballpark’s original design. The outfield wall was instead updated in 1970 with the wire basket installed, in part to prevent fan interference amid the “Friendly Confines” moniker.
Any ball hit into the basket area is a home run, and there otherwise aren’t any specific Wrigley Field ground rules that apply to it.
That differs from the a ball hitting the railing or screen attached to the bleacher wall. In such instance, if a ball hits those areas and rebounds onto the field, it is in play.
Moreover, if a fair ball enters the vines/ivy on the bleacher wall and ricochets onto the playing field, that is in play as well.
If a ball lodges in the screen attached to the bleacher wall, or vines/ivy, two bases are awarded to the batter. That also applies for cases in which a fair ball lodges under the grates in left field or right field.
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