MLB Disputes Ron Gardenhire's Claim League Admitted Mistake on Replay Call
The Detroit Tigers lost their home opener to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 13 innings Friday, but the controversy surrounding the replay review that extended the game in the 10th has continued.
On Monday, Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said the MLBย offices explained to Tigers general manager Al Avila that mistakes were made in the process that took too long to complete the review before ruling outย the potential game-winning run, per Evan Woodbery of MLive.com.
"The explanation was they didn't really have conclusive evidence that somebody tagged him," Gardenhire said Monday. "Yes, heย mightย have got him. 'Weย thinkย he got him' is not good enough. In this situation, it has to be definitive. It has to be, "Yeah, I see him (tag) him.' It's not, 'Well, he looked like he touched his sleeve.' That can't happen. It's got to be conclusive. Obviously it didn't happen. There were mistakes made."
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However, after Gardenhire's comments, the league issued a statement backing the original decision, via Woodbery:
"The nature of the exchange with the Tigers was that the replay officials made the correct call based on conclusive evidence. The video clearly shows the catcher applying the tag on the upper right arm of the runner."
The play in question took place in the 10th inning of Friday's game when a single from JaCoby Jones appeared to drive homeย Nicholas Castellanosย for an 11-10 walk-off win.
After almost five minutes of a review, however, the umpires ruled him out at the plate:
The league announced last season that replays would be limited to two minutes, perย Bob Nightengaleย ofย USA Today. While this review clearly went past that mark, Gardenhire said this was blamed on the team.
"One of the statements made to me was, the reason it took so long is because you guys were celebrating," the manager said, perย Chris McCoskyย of theย Detroit News. "I said, 'You just called our guy safe. We're not going to celebrate a win?'"
Three innings after the play was overturned, Gregory Polanco hit the decisive three-run home run to lead the Pirates to a 13-10 win.
