The Chicago White Sox rallied to beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 on Tuesday night, with a big hand from the replay official.
Elvis Andrus had knocked in two runs with a two-hit single in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game 6-6 and took second when the Rangers threw home. On the next at-bat, he raced home and slid on a Zach Remillard single. Andrus was ruled out as he was tagged by Rangers catcher Jonah Heim before touching the plate.
The play was challenged, reviewed and overturned, giving Chicago a 7-6 lead, with a ruling that Heim had “impeded the runner’s path to home plate.”
“I don’t know how I can block the plate from behind it,” Heim told reporters.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy complained about the ruling and was ejected.
“For that call to be made, I’m dumbfounded,” he told Bally Sports Southwest. “It’s absolutely one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. And it was done by replay. I just don’t get it.
“I don’t care how many times they try to explain it. You can’t do that in that situation. It’s a shame. It’s embarrassing, really.”
Andrus, who also had a home run in the game, told MLB Network: “I knew it was going to be a very close play. To be honest, I didn’t think they were going to overturn it, but (I’m) very happy that they did overturn it and we were able to get the win.”
Heim said the call against him was “unfortunate and upsetting.”
“I set up like we’re taught to set up, on the corner of the plate,” he said. “The ball took me up the line. I even backed up a little. He had the whole front of the plate to slide into, so I’m not sure what I need to do there.”
Heim said the ruling didn’t make sense to him and he didn’t get much of an explanation.
“It seems to me like they don’t want me to catch the ball and tag the guy out,” he said. “I guess we’ll get some clarity tomorrow on what better I need to do.”
