WATCH: Benches clear in Orioles vs. White Sox after Coby Mayo attempts to draw obstruction call with shove

In the process of registering his first big-league RBI, Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Coby Mayo touched off some near-hostilities with the Chicago White Sox after attempting to draw an obstruction call on the bases. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning of the Orioles’ eventual 4-2 win, Mayo notched a two-out single to left that plated Ryan O’Hearn. Out in left, Joshua Palacios hustled the ball to Sox third baseman and cutoff man Josh Rojas, who, seeing that Mayo was attempting to advance to second on the initial throw, threw to second baseman Lenyn Sosa. At that point, Mayo was in a pickle, and the rundown commenced. As Mayo tried to scurry back to first, Sosa threw to first baseman Miguel Vargas, and at that point Mayo reversed course back toward second base. He then promptly veered into the grass and initiated contact with Sosa, presumably in an attempt to get an obstruction call against Sosa and either be awarded second or be placed safely back at first base. First base umpire Adam Hamari, however, wasn’t having it and called Mayo out when Vargas applied the tag following Mayo’s flop to the ground. 

That’s when Sosa confronted Mayo regarding, one assumes, the latter’s decision to vacate his established path to second base and veer into Sosa. Mayo gave Sosa a light shove as he exited the field, and by that point the benches and bullpens were clearing. Further hostilities were avoided. 

Here’s a look at the entire sequence: 

The second replay angle that begins at 0:38 shows just how far Mayo went out of his way to run into Sosa. 

In rundown situations, the base-runner establishes his path toward a base as soon as he heads in that direction. That path, though, is in a straight line, and Mayo very obviously did not take a direct path to second base. That’s why Sosa was not called for obstruction even though he was not in possession of the ball or in the act of fielding it. It was an easy and obvious non-call for Hamari to make given his angle on things. Baseball is not really a sport that’s strongly associated with “flopping,” but this bit of ham-fisted attempt at gamesmanship by Mayo would certainly seem to qualify. 

Mayo was recalled to Baltimore just prior to Saturday’s game, and he wound up going 1 for 3 on the day with, as noted, MLB RBI No. 1 for his career. The 23-year-old Mayo has struggled across limited big-league action thus far, but he remains a highly regarded prospect with potentially a bright future at the highest level.