The Los Angeles Dodgers secured a 3-0 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night with a game-ending double play off the bat of Josh Jung.
However, the play wasn’t without some controversy.
Jung came up to the plate representing the tying run and promptly drove a Tanner Scott slider down the third-base line. The ball initially bounced in fair territory before taking a second bounce in foul territory.
Assuming the ball was fielded in foul territory, Jung stopped running but umpire Nick Mahrley signaled a fair ball.
As Los Angeles completed the double play and began celebrating their win, the Rangers protested, led by Jung and manager Bruce Bochy.
“I’m standing there watching it, so I thought it was foul. I guess it hit something and came back and it was fair,” Jung said, via MLB.com. “It was a quick, herky-jerky movement. Not a smooth motion. It is what it is.”
The game was delayed shortly as the Rangers requested a review, which was denied.
“I just wanted to make sure that [the home plate umpire] got to look at it too,” Bochy said. “Both of the umpires. The ball was foul and it hit something and kicked back. We couldn’t tell where it kicked back and whether it caught the bag or not. That determines if it’s fair, and that’s what they were saying.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, unsurprisingly, appreciated his team playing through the uncertainty. Jung should have done the same and perhaps the Rangers would have had another at bat.
