Royals win challenge on close play at second
Cano is called safe, but a replay review rules he is out
SEATTLE -- Give the Royals another win in the instant replay challenges countdown.
In the seventh inning of Seattle's 3-1 victory Saturday night, the Mariners had runners at first and second with two out when Royals reliever Tim Collins bounced a pitch and the runners took off. Catcher Salvador Perez recovered the ball and threw to second baseman Johnny Giavotella.
Umpire Laz Diaz called Robinson Cano safe but Royals manager Ned Yost issued a challenge. After a deliberation of 2:27, the ruling was overturned and Cano was out.
"I couldn't tell it right away. The replay showed it," Yost said. "When we got the replay back, they said it's really close but they think that Gio's foot blocked him off. It was the seventh inning, a great time to challenge, so I just challenged and we caught it."
Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said he was still confused about the ruling because he thought it was illegal for a fielder to block a base. He also said the replay didn't look conclusive.
"I was by no means arguing, but I still thought it was inconclusive because you could really not tell even with the replays from five, six or seven different angles whether or not he touched the bag and whether or not the guy really tagged him until he got all the way up here," McClendon said, referring to Giavotella's high tag.
Yost said he'd discussed the proliferation of camera angles just the other day with MLB adviser Tony La Russa.
"And he said, 'You know, they can have six camera angles that are inconclusive but if they have one that shows it, they're going to reverse the call," Yost said. "They've all got to be inconclusive so they must have had a good angle on it where they saw that his foot was blocked off and Gio made the tag before he bounced off it and got to the bag."
That gives the Royals a 4-2 record in challenges. Yost asked for four reviews in the first 14 games but this was just his second challenge in the last 22 games.