Alright folks, let’s watch this play in Oakland and try to unwrap what happened.
With the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, Anthony Gose hit a grounder to first baseman Nate Freiman. Freiman attempted a swipe tag on Munenori Kawasaki, going from first to second, and missed, according to first base umpire Vic Carapazza. Freiman then threw home to catcher Stephen Vogt, apparently forcing Edwin Encarnacion out at the plate for the second out of the inning.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons wasn’t pleased with this turn of events and challenged that Freiman tagged Kawasaki out. If Kawasaki was indeed ruled to be out, then a force play wouldn’t be in effect at home plate. Thus, Vogt stepping on the plate wouldn’t do a thing in regards to Encarnacion, who would score on the play.
The umpires agreed with Gibbons, as the replay clearly showed Freiman making the tag on Kawasaki. They called Kawasaki out, and put Encarnacion’s run on the board.
Naturally, Athletics manager Bob Melvin didn’t agree with this situation. He talked to the umpires for an explanation about the review, and eventually declared that the team would play the rest of the game under protest because of the interpretation of the overturned call.
Does your brain hurt yet? Long story short, John Gibbons challenged that his player that was called safe was actually out, and that his player that was called out was safe because of the removal of the force at home plate.
Well…at least we can say we’ve never see this before. The call itself, ruling that Kawasaki was out and that Encarnacion was safe, was correct. But really, all this did was open a whole new can of worms when it comes to replay – I guess the line of thinking is now going to be “always tag the runner”, no matter what happens.
