MLB says call should have been overturned

NEW YORK -- Red Sox manager John Farrell challenged a call at second base in the eighth inning of Saturday afternoon's 7-4 loss to the Yankees, but the call was upheld despite a shot from the television broadcast that showed it should have been overturned.

After the game, Major League Baseball said the conclusive angle was not immediately available and acknowledged that the call should have been made differently.

The play in question began when Yankees shortstop Dean Anna laced a one-out double into the right-field corner with one out in the eighth, stretching for the extra base with a head-first slide into second ahead of the throw from right fielder Daniel Nava. Anna slid through the bag and came up into a standing position ahead of Xander Bogaerts' tag, but his foot momentarily came off the bag as his weight carried him past second base.

Following a brief review, umpires confirmed their initial ruling that Anna was safe while viewers -- and, according to Farrell, the Red Sox --were able to see an angle that showed Anna's foot off the bag with Bogaerts' glove on Anna's hip.

Brett Gardner followed with a fly out to shallow center and Brian Roberts struck out, so Anna and Yangervis Solarte, who was at third, were stranded.

"We had probably five angles that confirmed his foot was off the base, and when the safe call came back -- it certainly raises questions, if they're getting the same feed we are, the consistency of the system," Farrell said. "So it makes you scratch your head a little bit on why he was called safe."

Anna did not believe his foot had come off the bag, until he was shown a still shot from the broadcast in which it was clear the tag was applied with his foot off second.

"I feel like I was on the whole time, how the play happened, and how I was just getting up," Anna said. "I don't know. I couldn't feel myself off the bag. It was a natural feeling. It wasn't really like I was like, 'Oh no, I'm off, and I've got to get back on.'"

It was the second time the Red Sox have challenged a call this season under the expanded replay system.

In the Yankees' clubhouse, Anna showed support for the replay system that had left him standing safely on second base less than an hour before, even after he had seen the video evidence.

"Oh no, I think replay is pretty good, actually," Anna said. "It's helping the game. It's not really that slow. I think calls are becoming right."