The Detroit Tigers missed a chance to take the lead during Wednesday’s AL Wild Card game thanks to a controversial replay review that took a run off the board.
With the bases loaded and two out, Tigers shortstop Javier Baez appeared to have given his team the lead over the Cleveland Guardians with a two out, two-run single. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt quickly challenged a play at third, believing that third baseman Zach McKinstry was thrown out trying to go from first to third.
What followed was a very unusual replay review that wound up costing Detroit a run. Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez was ruled to have tagged McKinstry out before he could get his hand into third base for the third out of the inning.
After review, Zach Mckinstry was ruled out and the game remains tied at 1 because the runner did not score in time pic.twitter.com/TCkmIxuuZi
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 1, 2025
To make matters worse for the Tigers, the second run did not count as a result. Replay showed that catcher Dillon Dingler had not yet touched home plate when McKinstry was tagged out, meaning his run did not count.
Here is an angle where you can see the runner did not touch home before the tag was applied at third pic.twitter.com/2wrWo367cm
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 1, 2025
The call ended the fourth inning tied at 1-1, an outcome the Guardians were happy to take.
It is extremely uncommon for a situation like this to ever arise. Dingler eased up a little bit as he headed for the plate, but not so much so that he could be criticized for a lack of hustle. The real problem was McKinstry did not make a great slide, as the right hand he led with actually slid past the bag.
This is not the first time the Tigers have been involved in a strange replay review. Considering this one took the lead away from them, it could sting if they don’t find a way to pull out Game 2.
