The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled out a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series despite being on the wrong end of one of the most improbable double plays in MLB history.
With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Max Muncy drove a ball to center field that was only a few inches from clearing the wall for a grand slam.
Instead, Sal Frelick attempted a leaping catch and got his glove on the ball to make it bounce off the wall. He quickly caught the ball off the deflection and fired it to the cutoff man.
Joey Ortiz then relayed to home plate, where Teoscar Hernández was called out after attempting to tag up from third base.
Hernández was out on the force since Frelick didn’t actually catch the ball. William Contreras then ran over to third base and stepped on the bag to complete the inning-ending double play as Will Smith was retreating back to second.
“It happened fast,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “I didn’t know he didn’t catch it, to be quite honest.
“We go over that rule, Teo knows the rule. I think right there he had just a little bit of a brain fart, appreciating that when it does hit the glove you can tag there.
“But then he tagged, did it correctly, then saw he didn’t catch it, he went back. That was the mistake. But he owned it. And after that there’s nothing else you can do about it.”
Roberts was given an explanation of the play by umpire crew chief James Hoye and decided to challenge the force outs to no avail.
“I just wanted clarity,” Roberts explained. “Honestly, I didn’t know they ruled it a no catch. I just wanted clarity on the whole situation. And then kind of making sure that they got a couple of forced outs, which they did.
“And ultimately those guys and replay, the guys on the field got it right. They nailed it.”
MLB umpire James Hoye explains bizarre double play
Hoye gave a further break down of the double play after the game and revealed how the NLCS umpiring crew reached their decision and what role replay had.
“So with Sal running back, he gloves at first and it hits the wall,” Hoye said. “At that point it’s no catch, right?
“Chad, on that six-man system, it’s his job to go out on that ball, from left line, to go out and get that ball. So on the first, I see him immediately saying no catch. They throw the ball in, and then all of a sudden you turn around and there’s runners everywhere, right?
“At that point guys are going back, going forward. The coaches are spinning. So they throw the ball to home with the guy sliding in. Then Contreras runs to third and runs to second.
“And at that, 15 seconds, we have a hold for the 15 seconds on the challenge. David goes, ‘Challenge.’ So at that point I wanted to know exactly what David was challenging. He gave the signal, so I went over to David, I go, ‘What are we challenging?’ Then there was some discrepancy, because at that point I didn’t know exactly what we had on the field. I wanted to verify exactly. So I go, ‘Hang on, David, wait a minute, let’s get together.’
“So we get the crew together, at that point Chad has a no-catch in the outfield. The home plate umpire, John Libka, he had an out at the plate on a force out. And Vic, the umpire at third base, had a force out at third. I go back to David, I go, ‘Hey, we have a no catch in the outfield. We have a force at the plate and we have a force at third. Do you want to challenge that?’ He goes, ‘Yes.’
“So then at that point we get the call from replay. It’s a confirmed out at the plate, confirmed out at third base. I make the announcement, and then David says to me, ‘But wait.’ So I explain to him, if they went the other way, went third and home, the run would have scored. But because it’s a force at home doesn’t remove the force going to third.
“So they got the two outs, the inning ended. That’s how that evolved into the play.”
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