Yost loses first replay challenge vs. White Sox
Control of ball, not Hosmer's foot on bag is issue with play at first base
KANSAS CITY -- Sometimes there's more to a play than there originally appears to be, as the new instant replay system demonstrated on Friday at Kauffman Stadium.
Royals manager Ned Yost made the first replay challenge in franchise history during a 7-5 win over the White Sox -- and lost. But not strictly on the basis of his challenge.
In the White Sox seventh, Jose Abreu's tap down the third-base line was fielded by Mike Moustakas, whose throw pulled first baseman Eric Hosmer off the bag as he scooped up the ball. At least that was first-base umpire Ted Barrett's ruling and Abreu was called safe.
"Before I even went out, I knew that Hoz was on the bag," Yost said.
There were mixed signals, however. Hosmer thought he was off the bag, but in the dugout bench coach Don Wakamatsu was getting different information from the Royals' video replay "eye," Bill Duplissea.
"I looked at Hoz and Hoz said, 'No, I was off the bag,'" Yost said. "But Wak was on the phone and Billy said he was on the bag so the replay showed he was on the bag."
However, the replays also showed that as Hosmer sprawled on the ground, the ball was creepy-crawling along the edge of his glove. That proved to be the problem.
Anyway, Yost challenged the call, thinking he had a 50-50 chance.
"You can ask for replays in the seventh, eighth and ninth so I figured it was a good time to take a shot at it. I wasn't sure if he had control of the ball," Yost said.
After 2 minutes, 49 seconds, the verdict was in from the New York command center. The umpire's ruling was confirmed, Abreu was indeed safe, Moustakas was charged with an error and the White Sox had runners at first and second base with no outs.
Control of the baseball was issue.
"Teddy [Barrett] explained it," Yost said. "It's like a football player when he catches that ball and it hits the ground, and it rolls a little bit, they call it a no-catch and that's what that ball was doing right there."
As it turned out, Conor Gillaspie, who had opened the seventh with a single, scored before the inning was over to pull the White Sox within two runs at 7-5. The run was unearned.