New York, NY – Major League Baseball admitted that "an improper call" was made in the ninth inning of Wednesday night's game between the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
However, the Indians' 4-3 victory will hold up.
With Oakland trailing by a run with two outs in the ninth, the Athletics' Adam Rosales appeared to tie the game with a home run off closer Chris Perez. The play was ruled a double on the field and upheld after a video review, despite replays that appeared to show the ball clearing the wall and hitting a railing in left-center before caroming back onto the field.
"By rule, the decision to reverse a call by use of instant replay is at the sole discretion of the crew chief," executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre said in a statement Thursday. "In the opinion of Angel Hernandez, who was last night's crew chief, there was not clear and convincing evidence to overturn the decision on the field. It was a judgment call, and as such, it stands as final.
"Home and away broadcast feeds are available for all uses of instant replay, and they were available to the crew last night. Given what we saw, we recognize that an improper call was made. Perfection is an impossible standard in any endeavor, but our goal is always to get the calls right. Earlier this morning, we began the process of speaking with the crew to thoroughly review all the circumstances surrounding last night's decision."
Athletics manager Bob Melvin charged onto the field to argue the call following the video review. He was immediately ejected.
Melvin was calm as he brought his lineup card to home plate before Thursday's game.
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