How Andy Pages Was Safe Despite Not Touching Home Plate

The Los Angeles Dodgers appeared to tack on an important insurance run in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies when Mookie Betts lined a two-out RBI single to right field that scored Andy Pages.

Adolis García fielded the ball and fired it to J.T. Realmuto, who attempted to tag Pages out at the plate. The 25-year-old was deemed safe by home-plate umpire James Hoye before the Phillies decided to challenge the call.

Replay showed that Pages never touched home plate, but the call on the field stood to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead. What appeared to be an important run was ultimately moot as the Phillies rallied for a 4-3 comeback win.

Andy Pages correctly safe under MLB rule

As the SportsNet LA broadcast showed a replay of Pages sliding into home plate during the Phillies’ challenge, two key details emerged.

First, there was not any sort of conclusive evidence that Realmuto tagged Pages. But second, it replay also showed that Pages missed home plate as his left foot was elevated on the slide. That caused confusion and prompted Phillies manager Don Mattingly to continue questioning the call after MLB’s replay center deemed Pages still safe.

Even though the replay official determined that Pages failed to touch home plate, the call stood because the Phillies did not initiate an appeal, much less in the right order.

According to Section V of the MLB replay rules, “if the Replay Official determines both that the runner did not touch home plate and that the fielder did not tag the runner (or, in the case of a force play, did not touch home plate), the Replay Official shall rule the runner “safe” at home plate unless the defensive Manager appeals the failure of the runner to touch home plate prior to the Crew Chief making contact with the Replay Official.”

Dodgers, Phillies set for rubber match

After splitting the first two games of the series, the Dodgers and Phillies now meet in a rubber match at Dodger Stadium on Sunday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound for his 11th start of the season, while Philadelphia is countering with Andrew Painter.

The Dodgers are looking to finish 5-1 on their homestand after having a season-best six-game winning streak snapped.