We’re just through three innings of Game 3 of the ALDS between the Red Sox and Yankees as I write this and first base umpire Ángel Hernández has already had two of his calls overturned thanks to replay review.
The first controversial call occurred in the bottom of the second inning. After Giancarlo Stanton singled to lead off the frame, Didi Gregorius laid down a bunt to the left side. Starter Nathan Eovaldi was a bit slow off the mound and his throw appeared to be just a bit too late to get the out at first base. Hernández ruled Gregorius safe, but the Red Sox challenged and the ruling was overturned.
In the bottom of the third inning, leadoff batter Gleyber Torres hit a grounder to shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts had to make the throw to first base across his body with his momentum taking him towards left field. The throw appeared to both come in late and pull Steve Pearce off the bag, but Torres was ruled out by Hernández. The Yankees challenged and the ruling was overturned.
Hernández has actually had three calls overturned in the series. In the top of the seventh inning of Game 2, after Giancarlo Stanton chopped a grounder to shortstop, Hernández ruled that the throw from Eduardo Núñez to Ian Kinsler pulled Kinsler off the second base bag, which would have given the Yankees a bases-loaded, no-out situation. The Red Sox challenged and the call was overturned. Of course, Gary Sánchez followed up by hitting a home run.
Hernández is slated to work the plate in Game 4, so that should be interesting. I’m at the point where if Hernández told me two plus two equals four, I might have to math it out on the back of an envelope real quick.
Update (9:35 PM ET): Another Hernández call was overturned in the fourth inning on a bang-bang play at first when Didi Gregorius was able to avoid being doubled up on a sharp ground ball to second base. The was another play involving Hernández’s ruling to start the inning. It was not overturned, so Hernández has a 25 percent success rate on calls gone to replay review in this game alone.
