The Oakland A’s appeared to get screwed on a call at the plate against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
The A’s were leading 2-1 in the top of the 7th and had a runner on first with two outs and Tony Kemp at the plate. Kemp popped a ball up that was misplayed by Joey Wendle and fell for a hit.
Elvis Andrus was hustling because of the two-out situation and tried to go first-to-home to score. He appeared to dive in safely at the plate, but he was called out. Bob Melvin challenged the call, but it was not overturned.
Top 7th – Athletics challenge call that Elvis Andrus is out at HP; call stands, runner is out. Powered by @Mitel. pic.twitter.com/6QPuyKwxbK
— MLB Replays (@MLBReplays) April 27, 2021
Melvin was ejected after arguing the call.
Andrus sure seemed to be safe in real-time, and he also looked safe on the replay. But the replay angles aren’t perfect, and there wasn’t a great angle to tell whether he had been tagged out before getting his hand in. That’s probably why the call remained.
At least Oakland wasn’t robbed of a victory even if they might have been robbed on that play. They still won 2-1 and are now 15-8.
