The Braves defeated the Dodgers 4-3 last night to even things up at 1-1 in the NLDS, but the win wasn’t without some controversy, as Dee Gordon was called out on a bang-bang play while trying to steal second base in the ninth inning.
Gordon entered the ballgame as a pinch-runner after A.J. Ellis drew a walk against Braves closer Craig Kimbrel. Included on the Dodgers’ NLDS roster for his speed, Gordon quickly took off for second base with pinch-hitter Andre Ethier at the plate. However, he ruled out by second base umpire Bill Miller after Andrelton Simmons was able to catch a throw from Gerald Laird on the short hop and apply the tag in one motion. Ethier would go on to draw a walk, but Carl Crawford struck out swinging to end the ballgame.
Much of the focus after the game was naturally on Gordon being thrown out at second base. Watching the play in real time, it certainly appeared that he was safe. However, if you slow it down, it appears that Simmons may have tagged Gordon on his backside before he was able to reach the base. Granted, Miller wasn’t in the best position to judge where Gordon’s hand may have been. The picture (captured by Scott Cunningham of Getty Images) in this post indicates the same thing, though it’s unclear whether the ball is in Gordon’s glove at this time. Check out the play below:
[mlbvideo id="31086843" width="400" height="224" /]
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly undoubtedly would have used one of his replay challenges if this was 2014, but I’m not sure there would have been enough evidence here to help him. MLB will likely have more angles available than TBS did on this particular play, but I don’t see anything definitive here that would have overturned the call.
