Royals’ lost replay challenge ends Thursday’s game, shows tie doesn’t go to runner
You’ve likely heard this old adage in baseball: tie goes to the runner.
But with the advent of replay challenges, there really aren’t any ties, right? In nearly every case, replay shows definitively whether a player is safe or out.
The end of the Royals-White Sox game on Thursday night may be an exception that proves that replay rule.
The Royals trailed 11-6 in the ninth inning but had the bases loaded with two outs when Edward Olivares hit a grounder up the middle. Danny Mendick’s throw to first was ruled to gotten Olivares, but the Royals challenged the call.
If that’s not a tie, then that’s as close as it gets.
Unfortunately for the Royals, the Major League Baseball Rulebook has no language about ties.
This is what MLB Rule 5.09 (a)(10) says about a batter making an out: “After a third strike or after he hits a fair ball, he or first base is tagged before he touches first base;”
It’s a bad break for the Royals, as announcers from both teams agreed that because the call was out on the field, the chances of overturning it were slim. Had Olivares been called safe after the replay challenge, the Royals would have had the tying run at the plate.
Fox Sports Kansas City’s Rex Hudler tried his best to sway the outcome.
“It’d be his third hit of the night,” Hudler said. “It’s his Royals debut. Tell those umpires that up in New York.”
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
