Video: A's denied tying homer after umpires' (faulty?) replay review

The Oakland A’s may be wondering what the point of replay in baseball is after Wednesday night’s game in Cleveland.

In their (and a lot of other people's) eyes, the umpires botched a critical home run review in the ninth inning. The men in blue ruled that Adam Rosales’ drive to left field off Indians closer Chris Perez hit high off the wall rather than against a railing behind the fence.

The crew’s original call stood, and Rosales was stuck at second base with a double. Had the hit been ruled a home run, the A's would have tied the game.

UPDATE: MLB says call will stand

From one angle at least, the A's had a very good argument. The ball appeared to carom off the railing.

Umpiring crew chief Angel Hernandez was hearing none of it, though; he ejected Oakland manager Bob Melvin for disputing the decision.

"I don't get it. I don't know what the explanation would be when everybody else in the ballpark knew it was a home run," Melvin told reporters afterward. "Clearly, it hit the railing. I'm at a loss. I'm at a complete loss."

Perez eventually escaped a bases-loaded jam and preserved a 4-3 Indians victory.

Melvin said Thursday that he has been in contact with Major League Baseball regarding the disputed ninth-inning call. Umpires ruled that a ball hit by Oakland's Adam Rosales with two outs was a double, not a game-tying homer.



REACTION: A's blast umpires, disputed call on Twitter

“We all know it was the wrong call, the whole team,” Rosales told reporters after the game, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I appreciate Bob standing up for us. We all know how important every game is, we found that out last year.”

Perez initially thought the ball hit the wall, but one he saw a replay...

"Obviously, coming back in here I saw different," he said.

"I don't think I've ever been on the other side of a replay like that, but I've definitely been on the other side of bad calls and missed strikes and stuff like that," Perez added. "It's part of the game. We'll definitely take it."

Hernandez told Slusser that his crew did not have enough evidence to overturn the call.


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