The Texas Rangers were left steaming mad after replay officials gave the Chicago White Sox what turned out to be the game-winning run in controversial fashion.
Texas appeared to get out of a huge jam in the bottom of the eighth inning. With the score tied 6-6, Elvis Andrus tried to score on Zach Remillard’s single but was thrown out at home by left fielder Travis Jankowski.
Andrus was easily out, and the call appeared to end the inning. But the White Sox challenged the call on the grounds that Rangers catcher Jonah Heim was blocking the plate. After a review, the call was overturned, giving the home side a 7-6 lead and leaving the Rangers apoplectic. Manager Bruce Bochy was quickly ejected as he protested the call.
The White Sox held on to win 7-6, and Bochy didn’t hold back his anger postgame.
“For that call to be made, I’m dumbfounded. It’s absolutely one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen, and it was done by replay,” Bochy, a former catcher, told Bally Sports Southwest. “I just don’t get it. I don’t care how many times they’ll try to explain it. You can’t do that in that situation. It’s a shame. It’s embarrassing, really.”
Bochy added that his anger was directed at replay officials in New York who overturned the call rather than the on-field umpires.
“Jonah did a great job there,” he continued. “The throw took him to the left a little bit, (he made a) sweet tag. I’m lost on this one.”
Rangers officials were told by MLB that the call was overturned because Heim never provided Andrus with a lane, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. This appeared to be news to Heim, who felt he did everything to the letter of the law ahead of the throw arriving.
“I asked the umpire what I could have done differently. I set up on the corners. I even backed up. I don’t know what else to do,” Heim told Grant. “It’s upsetting. It seems like they don’t want you to catch the ball or make the tag there. I don’t know how you can block the plate from behind the plate.”
MLB’s rule about giving runners a sliding lane, often called the “Buster Posey rule” after the former San Francisco Giants star’s injury spurred the change, aims to prevent home-plate collisions and serious injuries. But since being implemented, the rule has led to several controversial calls, with both catchers and baserunners benefitting at various times.
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