On video review in Detroit, the runner looked out. The replay officials in New York felt otherwise.
Tigers right fielder Kerry Carpenter appeared to throw out Tommy Pham of the Pirates at home plate on a swipe tag by catcher Jake Rogers in the 10th inning of a tie game Thursday night, but Pham was ruled safe with the go-ahead run. The call stood after the Tigers challenged, much to the outrage of A.J. Hinch who stormed out of the dugout in protest and was immediately ejected, per MLB rules.
The Pirates went on to score three more runs in the inning to take the final game of the series, 8-4. Hinch said afterward that he had seen a couple of different replays -- "not all of them" -- and took issue with the fact that the officials in New York merely upheld the call without confirming it.
"In that moment of the game, I think the first call is as important as the call to New York. And I hate 'stands,'" said Hinch. "When you say it stands, it’s like making no call to either affirm or take it away. That brings a lot of frustration. They showed it up on the big board, I gotta defend my team. The angle that they put up on the board looked like he was out.
"We’ll talk about it, the (league) will send me a note, they’ll send me a couple snapshots of how they couldn’t tell, and we’ll never know how the game goes if (the call) goes our way."
Major League Baseball said in a statement that "after viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official could not definitively determine that the fielder tagged the runner prior to the runner touching home plate."
The top of the 10th featured more controversy when a fan in the front row behind home plate was ejected from Comerica Park for making what MLB called "inappropriate comments" toward Pham as he waited on the on-deck circle. The fan was escorted out of the stadium along with two others.
They weren't the only fans tossed Thursday night. A fan wearing a Pirates jersey was ejected earlier in the game after hanging over the railing of Pittsburgh's bullpen and getting into an altercation with reliever Dennis Santana, who jumped up and swung at the fan without making contact.
The Tigers split Thursday's doubleheader but won the series against the Pirates. They head to Tampa for a three-game set with the Rays this weekend, still in possession of the best record in the majors at 48-28.