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 game, but MLB’s modified rule since 2016 says otherwise, and so are the modern-day fans. The Dodgers won the game, but Rushing couldn’t escape the fans’ wrath.

“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 entered the plate 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 threw back to the first, but Freeland covered the base by then. Rushing’s gamble worked fine, as a double play was avoided, but upon review, he was called for interference, and Freeland was also called out.

Fortunately, Rushing’s hard slide didn’t escalate further, but he bought back a memory from 2015.

The Dodgers’ Chase 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 went on to score 1 run from his 4 at-bats. Still, he couldn’t escape the fans.

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 onto 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, umpires would have been stricter. However, one thing is certain: Rushing loves to take on the opponents physically, but the fans might have had enough.