MLB replay fails again after Phillies' Alec Bohm scores phantom go-ahead run

Tom Gatto

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MLB replay fails again after Phillies' Alec Bohm scores phantom go-ahead run image

Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm's lead foot never touched the plate on his ninth-inning dash home Sunday night against the Braves. ESPN's replays made that clear.

Except it wasn't clear enough for the umpires, who called Bohm safe in Atlanta and then again in MLB's New York replay center. And that led to a second NL East game in four days being decided by a blown or missed call that was upheld by replay. 

In real-time, it looked as though Bohm successfully slid around Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who was blocking the plate. But then came the multiple replay angles showing Bohm's foot hovering over the dish as he was being tagged on his back leg.

Braves manager Brian Snitker threw his cap in the air in frustration after New York upheld plate umpire Lance Barrett's call and then came out to mildly argue. Snitker was convinced they got it wrong.

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What does Bohm think of all this? He had to see the replay plenty on the Truist Park video board, right?

"I was called safe. That's all that matters," he said with a smile in his Zoom call with reporters.

The supervisor of the New York replay crew said late Sunday that the replays were inconclusive.

"After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official could not definitively determine that the runner failed to touch home plate prior to the fielder applying the tag. The call STANDS, the runner is safe," the supervisor, whose name was not published, wrote in an e-mail, according to David O'Brien of The Athletic. (Subscription required.)

The Phillies went on to win 7-6.

On Thursday, the Mets walked off their home opener against the Marlins when Michael Conforto stuck his elbow in the path of a pitch with the bases loaded. Conforto should have been called out on strikes because the ball was in the strike zone when it hit him. The replay umps let the HBP stand because that was all they could review.

Home plate umpire Ron Kulpa acknowledged after seeing a replay himself that he had goofed. 

To paraphrase what SNY analyst Ron Darling said after Conforto got away with his move, why have replay if the umpires can't get the call right?

Or, how about what d'Arnaud told reporters Sunday night? From MLB.com's Todd Zolecki:

"It makes me not even want [replay] anymore," d'Arnaud said. "Honestly, it just slows the game down. It took like five minutes for them to decide that and, to me, they got it wrong. So I'd rather just not have it and get the game going."

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.