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Rangers get call overturned with replay challenge

Washington correctly contests call at second base on key pickoff play

ARLINGTON -- Instant replay was huge for the Rangers in a 3-2 victory over the Phillies on Tuesday night at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

If not for replay, the Phillies likely would have scored at least once more in a two-run sixth inning against Martin Perez. Instead, Rangers manager Ron Washington won his first replay challenge and almost certainly took at least one extra run off the board for the Phils.

The Phillies had Ben Revere at second and Jimmy Rollins at first with one out and Perez on the mound. The Rangers tried a pickoff at second, and umpire Cory Blaser called Revere safe against the tag by second baseman Donnie Murphy.

"I thought he was out," Murphy said. "I knew I caught the ball at the same time I tagged him, and I knew he wasn't back at the base. I thought I may have blocked the umpire's view, but my gut was we had him."

"The ball was just coming at my body as I was going back to the bag," Revere said. "It was like a millimeter away ... the ball hit me in my back [when it hit the glove] and I thought I had my hand in there. I thought the replay would show me safe, but they said, 'No, it got you by this much.'"

Washington walked out to talk to Blaser, and after getting a signal from bench coach Tim Bogar, he asked for a review. The replay showed Murphy put the tag on Revere before he got his hand on the base, and the call was overturned. The review took two minutes and 18 seconds.

"From my vantage point, I thought he had him," Washington said. "When I went out there, [Blaser] said he thought [Revere] got his hand on the bag. I worked to where I could see Bogar, and he [signaled] he was out."

The play likely saved a run, as Chase Utley followed with a single that might have scored Revere. After Marlon Byrd flied out, Ryan Howard doubled to right to give the Phils a 2-0 lead. That was the last batter Perez faced, and Jason Frasor retired Carlos Ruiz on a grounder to short to end the inning.

Without replay, the Phillies might have scored one more and could have broken the game open. Instead, the Rangers rallied for a 3-2 victory in the bottom of the ninth.

"I'm glad we had replay," Murphy said.

T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Postcards from Elysian Fields, and follow him on Twitter @Sullivan_Ranger.
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