Cubs go 1-1 on replay challenges vs. Yankees

NEW YORK -- The Cubs had mixed results with replay challenges in Wednesday's 3-0 loss to the Yankees in their doubleheader opener.

They were successful in overturning a call in the second inning. With one out and the bases empty, left fielder Junior Lake pushed a bunt down the third-base line, forcing Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka to hustle off the mound. Tanaka fired the ball to first and umpire Manny Gonzalez initially ruled that Lake was out. But Cubs manager Rick Renteria emerged from the dugout to challenge the play, which was overturned and resulted in Lake being ruled safe.

"Our eyes told us he was safe," Renteria said. "... When you go out there, obviously, you talk to the umpire a little bit and you kind of position yourself to make sure you're validating your information with the information that's being gathered by the guys in the dugout. It was a safe assumption that he was safe."

Lake later stole second base to move into scoring position, but Tanaka struck out both Luis Valbuena and Mike Olt to end the threat and maintain the Yankees' 1-0 lead, which came thanks to a Carlos Beltran homer in the first.

In the seventh inning, however, with the Cubs down 3-0, Renteria challenged another close play at first -- this time unsuccessfully. With Anthony Rizzo on first base and none out, Nate Schierholtz smacked a grounder up the middle that deflected off Tanaka's glove to shortstop Dean Anna, who threw to first. Gonzalez's out call was ruled to stand after a review.

"I thought it was a tie," Schierholtz said. "I think that they probably didn't want to overturn it, because it's one of those things, it's too close. ... Just frustrating, obviously. You watch the video and it's so close. It was a big play."

Had Schierholtz been safe, the Cubs would have had runners on first and second with no outs, with Starlin Castro batting as the potential tying run.

The Cubs have now been successful with four of their seven replay challenges.