Since incorporating instant replay and allowing managers to challenge plays, Major League Baseball has generally seen an upswing in accuracy of calls. While replay has brought improvement, it’s not a a completely perfect system.
There are still instances where a call may have been incorrectly made on the field of play, but still upheld after review due to there not being sufficient evidence. The Los Angeles Dodgers found themselves on the receiving end of a bad call Saturday night against the Atlanta Braves.
With one out in the seventh inning and a runner on first base, Joc Pederson made a sliding catch on a sinking liner to rob Adonis Garcia of a base hit. Pederson immediately popped up and attempted to double up Nick Markakis at first base.
Markakis got back to the bag in time, but third base umpire Mark Ripperger had already ruled Pederson did not make the catch. Adrian Gonzalez then threw over to Chase Utley at second base to record a force out:
Replay showed Pederson clearly made the grab, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t challenge the call. “That was a tricky one,” he said after his club’s 4-0 victory.
“Mark Ripperger called it a no catch. I think Markakis thought it was a catch and went back. It was confusing and ultimately after we looked at it, it was a catch. Conceivably, we could’ve had two outs. It was kind of a funky play. Fortunately, Joe (Blanton) got us out of the inning.”
Pederson also admitted to being confused by the sequence, even after watching the play on video. “I caught the ball and tried to backdoor Markakis at first,” he said. “I still don’t know what the ruling was, and I went back and watched the film. I really don’t know what happened.”
