Buck Showalter (probably) let baseball's first illegal lineup re-entry slide for a simple reason

On Aug. 25, the Orioles defeated the Boston Red Sox, 16-3, at Fenway Park. The Red Sox allowed 21 hits, committed five errors and, maybe most amazingly, couldn’t solve Jeremy Hellickson. They also sent five players to the mound just one night after using five pitchers in a 13-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians. (Only reliever Blaine Boyer appeared in both for Boston.)

Largely overlooked until Wednesday, however, was a weird bit of baseball trivia: The game, as Baseball Prospectus’ Meg Rowley noted, featured “the only instance of illegal lineup re-entry in MLB history.” In the top of the ninth inning, the Red Sox moved first baseman Mitch Moreland to the mound as an emergency pitcher, and Hanley…