Watch: world's worst MLB challenge ruins extra innings and incredible HR
St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was looking for something, anything, that might give his team life following New York Mets outfielder Jay Bruce’s go-ahead home run in the top of the tenth inning Tuesday.
It was a tough night for the Cardinals, who gave up multiple leads — including a three-run advantage — on their way to losing 6-5 to the Mets.
But Matheny’s strategy to prevent his team from losing was questionable, at best.
With two outs and nobody on base in the tenth, Bruce hit a home run to center field off Cardinals reliever Matt Bowman.
There was no question about whether the ball was fair, or if it actually had the distance to leave the yard.
Matheny however, seemed to think there was a question regarding whether or not Bruce touched first as he rounded the bases. Matheny didn’t have any challenges to use, so he asked the umpire crew chief for the play to be reviewed.
The crew chief relented, and the home run was officially reviewed.
The only problem? Bruce had clearly touched first base.
“We were all like, what’s going on? And Jay was like, why are they challenging that? I stepped right on the middle of the bag,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said after the game, according to ESPN. “So that was interesting.”
In Bruce’s mind, there was no question that he had touched the bag.
“I’ve hit a few home runs in my career and I’ve never even gotten close to missing that base,” Bruce said. “That would be a new low for me.”
Mets TV analyst Keith Hernandez was particularly annoyed at what he felt was nothing more than a complete waste of time. “This is absolute nonsense,” he said. “What are you going to do? Are you going to allow them to do this?”
Following a review that lasted less than a minute, the umpires confirmed that Bruce had indeed touched first.
Later, Matheny tried to explain his reasoning, noting that arguing the home run call was worth a shot, even if nothing came of it.
“Somebody saw him looking up, didn’t know if he got a spike on the bag or not,” Matheny said, according to MLB.com. “We took a chance, just in case.”
In the end, the course of the game wasn’t changed at all. At the same time, if Major League Baseball really wants to increase the pace of games, it can’t let things like this happen.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
