In the third inning of the Minnesota Twins’ 8-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Friday night, Brian Dozier hit a long foul ball to the right field corner on a 1-1 pitch from Royals starter Jason Vargas. It was initially ruled foul, and manager Paul Molitor asked for a review.
After the review, the call was upheld due to inconclusive evidence to overturn the call.
Well, how is this for evidence?
Luke Thomas appears to be a recent graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield, having studied Socio-Political Communications according to his Facebook page.
https://twitter.com/BrianDozier/status/880999860773810176
He got a quick response from Dozier, who rightfully wanted to know if that yellow mark came from the foul pole — and according to Thomas, it had.
It’s impossible to see clearly in a still photo, but there is a man coming down the stairs signaling home run in the photo attached below.
That would have given the Twins a 2-0 lead, and instead Dozier wound up grounding out to short for the second out of the inning. The Twins still ended up getting a run — their only one of the night — on a Miguel Sano single to left later in the inning, but it’s no surprise that the missed call might have stuck in the craw of some Twins folks.
“I thought ours was fair and theirs was foul,” Molitor told Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I know foul poles are tough, especially when the ball curls around one side or the other. I don’t think (first base umpire Jordan Baker) had a good look at Brian’s. To me it looked like he was looking at the wall to see where the ball was going to hit and then was surprised he didn’t see it come down and he threw his arms up.”
The other one Molitor is referring to came an inning later, as Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer also went the other way. This time, his drive was called a home run off the bat, and with insufficient evidence to overturn stood and gave the Royals a 3-1 lead.
That ended up being the crushing blow of the night, as it came one pitch after Twins starter Ervin Santana turned a possible double play comebacker into an errant throw which sailed into center field.
“I was frustrated because we practiced that play for a long time in spring training,” Santana told the Associated Press. “I guess I was trying to be too quick because Lorenzo Cain runs well. And then, after that play, I lost my control. I forget about the game and start throwing instead of pitching.”
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