Despite the presence of 24 cameras, Major League Baseball video reviewers could not find a precise image to determine whether Michael Massey’s glove touched Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s left foot before it touched the corner of the second cushion.
Referee Lance Barrett’s initial decision, which deemed Chisholm safe, stood confirming larceny. Alex Verdugo followed with a run-scoring single that gave the New York Yankees the lead for good, en route to a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of their division series of the American League, Saturday evening.
“They simply said there was nothing clear and convincing to overturn (the original decision), and that if it had been declared withdrawn, that decision would have stood as well,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro Sunday.
The score was 5-5 when Chisholm singled against Michael Lorenzen as the leadoff hitter in the seventh inning.
Chisholm raced to second base as Anthony Volpe sliced through the air on a third strike, and when Chisholm slid to second base, his left foot scraped the dirt inches from the base to the point where he suddenly noted.
Massey, the Royals’ second baseman, leapt into the air to grab the throw from catcher Salvador Perez and lowered his glove as Chisholm approached the base. The glove contacted the left front side of Chisholm’s shoe as the left rear side of the shoe reached the cushion.
After speaking on the phone with Bill Duplissea, video replay coordinator with the Royals, who was in a room full of screens, Quatraro requested a video replay.
Chris Conroy, the official on duty at the Video Operations Center at Rockefeller Center, spent about two minutes scrutinizing a series of rectangle-shaped videos on a large screen just inches from him.
Informed of Conroy’s decision, Barrett announced to the crowd at Yankee Stadium: “Upon review, the decision on the field stands.” The runner is safe. »
From the Royals dugout, Quatraro, arms crossed, nodded.
“After viewing all relevant angles, the video replay official was unable to conclusively determine that the fielder touched the runner before the runner touched second base,” baseball officials said. major in a press release.
“Furthermore, the official responsible for the video replays was unable to conclusively determine that the runner was not able to maintain contact with the pad when the defensive player touched him with his glove . »
The rules surrounding video reviews in major league baseball state that the official stationed at the control center has three options: confirm the decision, reverse it, or “uphold the decision made on the field in the absence of clear and convincing evidence for the to change”.
“It’s a bit like a justice system, correct? It has to be clear and convincing, and what does that mean? » questioned Quatraro.
“Clearly, we are saying there was evidence to overthrow her. But we’re talking about a fraction of an inch at high speed and everything in between. I understand how difficult this is for everyone involved. »
Massey looked at the slow motion on the center field scoreboard and maintained that “you could see space between his heel and the corner of the pad.”
Massey reviewed the footage after the last takedown.
“It’s frustrating because the video I saw seemed pretty convincing to me,” Massey said.
“In my opinion, it’s one of those things, if it’s something that’s not going to be overturned, then I don’t really know what’s clear and compelling and I’m not really sure about it. usefulness of the system if a decision like this is not reversed. We touched him. We could see clear contact. We could see space between his foot and the cushion. »
But for Conroy, it wasn’t clear enough to change the decision.
“There’s a little bit of dirt getting in the way,” Massey said. “We play an imperfect sport. It’s outside, it’s windy, rainy, dirty. »
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