The Oakland A’s appeared to get shafted on a call at the plate against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
The A’s were leading 2-1 in the top of the seventh and had a runner on first with two outs and Tony Kemp at the plate. Kemp popped a ball up that was misplayed by Joey Wendle and fell for a hit.
Elvis Andrus was hustling because of the two-out situation and tried to go first-to-home to score. He appeared to dive in safely at the plate, but he was called out. Bob Melvin challenged the call, but it was not overturned.
Melvin was ejected after arguing the call.
Andrus sure seemed to be safe in real time, and he also looked safe on the replay. But the replay angles aren’t perfect, and there wasn’t a great angle to tell whether he had been tagged out before getting his hand in. That’s probably why the call stood.
At least Oakland wasn’t robbed of a victory even if it might have been robbed on that play. The A's still won 2-1 and are now 15-8.
More must-reads: