NEW YORK (AP) — Even with up to 24 video cameras, Major League Baseball didn't have a precise picture showing whether Michael Massey's glove slapped Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s left foot before it touched the corner of second base.
Lance Barrett's initial safe call stood awarding the stolen base, and Alex Verdugo followed with a run-scoring single that gave the New York Yankees the lead for good in a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals in their AL Division Series opener on Saturday night.
“They just said there was nothing clear and convincing to overturn it, and if he had been called out, that call would have stood, too,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Sunday.
In the first postseason game with five lead changes, the score was 5-5 when Chisholm singled against Michael Lorenzen leading off the seventh. Chisholm took off for second as Anthony Volpe struck out and when Chisholm slid into second, his left foot hit the dirt inches short of the base, causing him to pop up.
Second baseman Michael Massey jumped to snag catcher Salvador Perez's high throw and swiped down with his glove as Chisholm approached the base. The glove hit the front left side of Chisholm's cleats as the back left of the shoe reached the base.
After consulting on the phone with Royals instant replay coordinator Bill Duplissea, who was in a room filled with monitors off the stadium tunnel, Quatraro signaled for a video review.
Chris Conroy, the umpire in the Rockefeller Center replay operations center, spent about two minutes checking an array of video in rectangles on a large screen inches in front of him. Informed of Conroy's decision, Barrett announced to the Yankee Stadium crowd: “After review, the call on the field stands. The runner is safe.”
Watching from the Royals dugout, arms folded, Quatraro shook his head.
“After viewing all relevant angles, the replay official could not definitively determine that the fielder tagged the runner prior to the runner touching second base," MLB said in a statement. “Additionally, the replay official could not definitively determine that the runner failed to maintain contact with the base as the fielder was applying the tag.”
MLB's replay regulations state the umpire in the control room has three options: confirm, change or “let stand the call on the field due to the lack of clear and convincing evidence to change it.”
“It’s kind of like a court system, right? You have to — clear and convincing and what does that mean?” Quatraro said. “Clearly we’re saying that there was evidence to overturn it. But we’re talking about a fraction of an inch at high speed and all that. I understand how difficult that is on everybody involved.”
Massey watched the slo-mo on the center field screen and maintained "you could see the daylight between his heel and the corner of the bag.”
“He was like, ‘I think I put down a good tag,’" Chisholm recalled after the game. “I said, ‘You did put down a good tag, but that doesn’t mean I’m out.’ It was a lot of fun going back and forth, but I knew I had it.”
Massey reviewed the replays after the final out.
“It’s frustrating because the video I saw looked pretty convincing to me,” Massey said. “In my opinion that’s one of those things if that’s something that’s not going to be overturned, then I don’t really know what’s clear and convincing and I’m not really sure the whole point of the system if a call like that is not (overturned). We tagged him. We could see clear contact. We could see the daylight between his foot and the base.”
But to Conroy it wasn't clear enough to change the call.
“There is a little bit of dirt that gets in the way,” Massey said. "We are playing an imperfect game. It’s outdoors, there is wind, there is rain, there is dirt.”
AP freelance writer Larry Fleisher contributed to this report.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. (13) reacts as he steals second base safely ahead of the tag from Kansas City Royals second baseman Michael Massey during the seventh inning of Game 1 of the American League baseball division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. (13) slides safely into second base ahead of the tag from Kansas City Royals second baseman Michael Massey during the seventh inning of Game 1 of the American League baseball division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
SELVA DI VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) — Marco Odermatt finally conquered the Saslong and the Swiss standout did it in style.
Odermatt put down what he called “one of my best” downhill runs on Saturday to win a World Cup race in Val Gardena as the three-time overall World Cup champion looked like back to his imperious best.
The 27-year-old beat Swiss teammate Franjo von Allmen by 0.45 seconds for his first victory at the resort in the Italian Dolomites. Odermatt had had four podium finishes there — including in Saturday’s super-G — but had never been better than second.
It was Odermatt’s 40th World Cup victory but only his third in downhill.
"It was one of my best downhills," Odermatt said. “If you want to win the downhill, you need the perfect run and today already on the top, which is not really my section, I could ski very well and finally I also jumped well, and then it was really perfect. So yeah, very happy with the run.”
It had also been a less than stellar start to the season for Odermatt — by his lofty standards — and he yelled out in joy several times after crossing the line, before taking off his skis and raising them up and letting out another long shout.
Before Odermatt came down it had been an incredibly tight race, with the top three separated by just 0.02. In the end, American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished third, with Nils Allègre of France missing out on what would have been only his second ever podium finish by one hundredth of a second.
It was Cochrane-Siegle's third podium after also finishing third in Val Gardena four years ago and winning the super-G in Bormio 10 days later.
“It was good skiing, it was fun,” he said. “Gardena is a really challenging hill to ski, in the sense of skiing fast. I’ve had runs here where I thought I’d put down a good one, and it’s been seconds out, so you really never know until you cross the finish line.
"I was just focusing on trying to carry speed as much as possible. When I ski my best I do that — keeping skiing really simple, back to basics.”
Odermatt won the downhill World Cup title last season, as well as the super-G, giant slalom and overall crystal globes.
The only previous downhill this season was in Beaver Creek, where Odermatt finished second to teammate Justin Murisier.
Odermatt moved 78 points above Murisier in the downhill standings and 50 points above Henrik Kristoffersen in the overall.
The circuit moves to nearby Alta Badia where there is a giant slalom on Sunday and a slalom the following day.
Meanwhile, Lindsey Vonn finished 14th in a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland to mark her return to World Cup skiing at age 40. Her comeback continues in a super-G in St. Moritz on Sunday.
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt listens to the national anthem on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, center, winner of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, celebrates on the podium with second-placed Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen, left, and third-placed United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebrates on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebratesat the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Val Gardena, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
