The Los Angeles Dodgers mustered all of one run and three hits in their loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, with Trea Turner responsible for the only time they scored.
He was robbed of a hit and potential second RBI as Didi Gregorious made a diving stop up the middle and strong throw to first base. Replay appeared to show Brad Miller come off the bag by the time he secured the baseball, but the Dodgers’ challenge was unsuccessful.
“I didn’t look at it. I just saw it on the big board. I think the thing that’s interesting is umpires are trained to listen for sound on force plays,” manager Dave Roberts said after the 2-1 loss.
“As I heard it from Alfonso (Marquez), in replay, it’s a visual thing, obviously. So when the ball is touching the glove and not secured, it’s still — in their determination — counts as possession. So if you look at the replay, it was not in the glove as far as caught, but it was touching the glove, and that’s why it wasn’t overturned.
“It doesn’t add up to me as far as when you’re looking for sound and securing a baseball versus it touching and not securing. But it is what it is.”
Although frustrated and seemingly in disagreement with the result after replay, Roberts did not seek clarification from umpires whether the out call was confirmed or just that there wasn’t enough to overturn it.
“For me, that’s semantics,” he said.
Even with the disappointing turn of events, the Dodgers had their chances in the late innings. Included in that was loading the bases with two outs in the ninth before Ian Kennedy managed to convert the save.
Dodgers’ record in one-run games
The Dodgers are now 13-21 this season in games decided by one run, which trails only the Miami Marlins (23) and Arizona Diamondbacks (23) for most losses in such contests.
“I wouldn’t guess that we would be like that in one-run games,” Roberts said. “I would expect going forward we’ll win more one-run games. I can’t explain each one-run game; you’d have to do an individual dive. Overall, yeah, it’s surprising.”
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