Dalton Rushing pulled off a Chase Utley-style move at second base but couldn’t save a double play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. With how he perfectly executed a hard slide in the fifth inning on Tuesday, the old-school baseball fans, especially from the 1970s, would be happy to see the hard contacts back in the day, but MLB’s modified rule since 2016 says otherwise, and so are the modern-day fans. The 25-year-old Dodgers catcher made a clearly illegal slide during Tuesday’s 12-3 win over Pittsburgh. His risky move left fans angry about player safety.

“Dalton Rushing with a slide that hasn’t been legal for 10 years,” Sleeper shared via X.

Rushing started the fifth inning and singled to the first off the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes. Alex Freeland hit the ball to the right side, which looked like a routine double play. But Rushing took a rather risky and old-school way of avoiding a double play. He sprinted towards the Pirates’ shortstop, Jared Triolo, and crashed into him. While sliding down to the bases was common, Rushing went way off the bag to crash into Triolo.

Triolo still made the throw to first base. Freeland beat the throw at first. However, Rushing’s plan backfired. The umpires checked the video and ruled his slide illegal. Because of the interference, both Rushing and Freeland were called out. This gave the Pirates their double play.

Luckily, the crash did not cause a major injury. Still, the safety concerns were huge. Triolo had already missed about a month this season with a bad knee. Rushing, sliding right into those same legs made the move look very dangerous.

The scary moment brought back memories of Chase Utley.  The Dodgers’ Utley’s controversial “dirty slide” occurred during Game 2 of the 2015 NLDS, but heavily defined the 2016 MLB season. During the play, Utley slid aggressively into second base, fracturing the right leg of New York Mets shortstop Rubén Tejada. While the play happened in October 2015, the fallout and MLB’s resulting rule changes dominated headlines leading into and during the 2016 season.

Post this incident, MLB modified Rule 6.01 (j). As per the new rule, a runner will have to make a “bona fide slide,” which means making contact with the ground before reaching the base. The batter needs to reach the base with a hand or foot and should remain on the base after the slide (except at home plate). He should not change his path for the purpose of initiating contact with a fielder.

Rushing was away from the bag, and he clearly targeted Triolo and thus violated the rule. The Dodgers still won the game 12-3, and Rushing also got a hit in his four at-bats. But he could not escape the angry fans online.

The Dodgers’ catcher gets called out by the fans

Fans wonder about how far Rushing was from the bag.

“Playing hard is one thing, but he’s not even close to the bag,” one fan said.

“I don’t think that slide was ever legal. He’s nowhere near the base and has his back to it,” another added.

While Rushing’s slide was not legal as per MLB, the distance between the Dodgers’ catcher and the bag was what looked stunning. For instance, back in 2017, during a Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox game, Didi Gregorius hit a soft grounder. He made a diving stop and flipped to first base. Gregorius dove head-first into the bag, colliding with the fielder’s legs right as the ball arrived, barely avoiding a tag to be called safe.

However, that was deemed legal because it looked unintentional, and both he and the second baseman were close to the bag. On Tuesday, the Pirates’ shortstop was away from the bag, and Rushing had his path clear towards second base. He still crashed into Triolo.

A few fans recall Rushing’s frequent contacts this year. “Not the first time this season,” one user remarked. “At this point, he’s either retarded or a dirty player. There’s no other explanation for all the stupid s— he’s done,” another agreed.

In April, Rushing was hit by a pitch from Giants pitcher Logan Webb and subsequently retaliated by sliding aggressively directly into the bag and colliding hard with Giants shortstop Willy Adames. Even the Dodgers fan might have had enough of seeing these hard contacts.

“That was a Dirty slide; he should have been ejected from the game,” another said. MLB’s rule says that if the umpire finds the slide intentional, both the hitter and runner would be called out.

The same happened here. Only if the incident led to a bench-clearing event would umpires have been stricter. However, one thing is certain: Rushing loves to take on the opponents physically, but the fans might have had enough.