It might seem a strange request, but Braves third baseman Chris Johnson is filing an appeal with Major League Baseball to try to get a scoring decision changed so that he’s charged with an error.
That’s because Johnson’s play on a Denard Span groundball in the second inning Thursday night led to two runs in a 3-1 loss to the Nationals. And after a scoring change by the Braves official scorer, the play cost Kris Medlen two earned runs.
“It’s ridiculous,” Johnson said. “The guy hit a ball off the end of the bat. That’s an easy play. If he doesn’t think I can make that play, he’s crazy.”
The scorer initially ruled it an error but changed his mind later in the course of the game. Johnson was steamed when he noticed it had been changed to a hit on the scoreboard.
“Chris was adamant when he came in here,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Friday afternoon in the Braves dugout. “I’ve never heard a major league player come up and say ‘You tell me who I need to talk to about changing that hit to an error. Tell me who.’ I’ve never seen a major league player come out and say that too many times.”
Medlen wasn’t overly concerned about it, Gonzalez said.
“He goes ‘What’s two earned runs over the course of 200 innings; it’s not that big a deal,’” Gonzalez said. “But that was good on Chris Johnson’s part.”
MLB will likely issue its decision on Monday.
