Nationals' Dave Martinez Slams 'Brutal' Loss to Astros, Wants Baseline Rule Changed

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez vented his frustration with MLB's baserunning rules following his team's 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

José Abreu scored the winning run for Houston the ninth inning after Keibert Ruiz's throw to first base hit off the helmet of Jake Meyers.

During his postgame press conference, Martinez showed a photo of Meyers in the grass as he was running toward first base.

"There it is right there," he told reporters. "Take a look at it. Is that on the line? I don't think so. I'm over this play. Seriously. They need to fix the rule. If this is what the umpire sees that he's running down the line, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. Fix it. We lost the game, and he had nothing to say about it because he can't make the right call. Brutal."

The MLB rulebook details how a runner can be called for interference if he's left of the foul line or right of the runner's lane after getting 45 feet up the basepath.

In the case of Meyers, he was level with first base by the time he reached the bag. However, he appeared to be still touching the grass after crossing the halfway mark of the baseline.

It called to mind the interference call on former Nationals star Trea Turner during the 2019 World Series. Turner wasn't even as wide as Meyers was but was called out because he was narrowly outside of the baseline threshold.

The stakes were obviously much lower this time around. Suffering one more defeat is unlikely to matter much when Washington is already last in the National League East at 26-40.

But Martinez's anger wasn't without merit because Meyers seemed to be guilty of interference by the letter of the law.