The Cleveland Guardians should have taken the lead against the Toronto Blue Jays, but catcher's interference wasn't called by the umpire.
After going down 2-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays early on in the series finale on Sunday, the Cleveland Guardians struck back in the fifth inning, scoring two runs of their own, and still had the bases loaded with a chance to add on more.
David Fry stepped to the plate, worked a 3-2 count with two outs, and swung at a curveball. Fry missed the ball, but drilled Brandon Valenzuela’s catcher’s mitt instead.
Technically, this should have been called catcher’s interference.
Fry should’ve been awarded first base, Angel Martinez should’ve come into score the go-ahead run from third, and Daniel Schneemann should have stepped into the batter’s box with a chance to extend the lead.
The key phrase there is “should have” because none of that actually happened.
Home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus missed the call, even as Fry begged for someone, anyone, to review it, and he was called out on strikes, ending Cleveland’s rally early.
Stephen Vogt said after the game the Guardians never got an explanation for the play because, in that situation, “they don’t have to… they didn’t call it on the field, so we can’t check it.”
From Fry’s perspective, he definitely felt like he hit the glove and was hoping to get the call, but it never came.
“I thought, like, I kind of checked, swung, and I felt it hit the glove, so I was like, ‘Oh, catcher's interference,’ [and] try to tell the umpire. And then obviously looked at our dugout to like see if they could look at it, but I didn't realize we were out of challenges,” explained Fry
“Definitely felt something hit my bat, and I was like, I clearly didn't foul it off, it went straight into his glove. So I had a good feeling it was catcher’s interference.”
Apr 26, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Guardians first baseman David Fry (6) reacts after striking out during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn ImagesThis no-call clearly hurt the Guardians; there's no debating that, but the one play alone didn’t cost the Guardians the game or series against the Blue Jays.
Cleveland had plenty of scoring opportunities all weekend outside of that fifth inning, but the Guardians struggled to convert on those chances.
On Sunday alone, the Guardians were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
At this point, one can only speculate how the game and series would’ve finished if the catcher’s interference had been called.
As Fry said, “Oh well.”
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