Even with up to 24 cameras, MLB didn't have enough clear angles to reverse the Chisholm steal

NEW YORK (AP) — Even with as many as 24 video cameras, Major League Baseball didn't have a clear picture to show whether Michael Massey's glove struck Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s left foot before it touched the corner of second base.

Lance Barrett's first safe call was to award the stolen base, and Alex Verdugo followed with a run-scoring single That gave the New York Yankees a one-game lead for good 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals in the AL Division Series opener Saturday night.

“They just said there was nothing clear and convincing to overturn it, and if he had been called out, that call would have stood as well,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Sunday.

In the first postseason game with five lead changes, the score was 5-5 when Chisholm singled off Michael Lorenzen to lead off the seventh. Chisholm moved to second when Anthony Volpe struck out, and as Chisholm slid to second, his left foot hit the ground just inches from the base, causing him to jump.

Second baseman Michael Massey jumped to snag catcher Salvador Perez's high throw and swiped his glove down as Chisholm approached the base. The glove struck the front left side of Chisholm's cleat as the back left side of the shoe reached the base.

After a telephone consultation with Bill Duplissea, the Royals' instant replay coordinator, who was in a room full of monitors next to the stadium tunnel, Quatraro signaled for a video meeting.

Chris Conroy, the referee in Rockefeller Center Repeat Operations Centerspent about two minutes reviewing a series of videos in rectangles on a large screen just inches in front of him. When Barrett was informed of Conroy's decision, he announced to the Yankee Stadium crowd: “After review, the call on the field stands. The runner is safe.”

Quatraro watched from the Royals dugout with his arms crossed and shook his head.

“After considering all relevant angles, the replay official could not definitively determine that the fielder tagged the runner before the runner touched second base,” MLB said in a statement. “In addition, the replay official could not definitively determine that the runner did not maintain contact with the base while the fielder applied the tag.”

MLB's replay regulations state that the control room umpire has three options: confirm, change or “leave the on-field decision in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to support a change.”

“It’s a bit like a court system, right? “You have to be – clear and convincing and what does that mean?” said Quatraro. “We are saying very clearly that there was evidence that it was overturned. But we're talking a fraction of an inch at high speed and so on. I understand how difficult this is for everyone involved.”

Massey watched the slow motion on the midfield screen and claimed, “You could see the daylight between his heel and the corner of the sack.”

“He said, 'I think I had a good day,'” Chisholm recalled after the game. “I said, 'You've had a good day, but that doesn't mean I'm out.' It was a lot of fun going back and forth, but I knew I did it.”

Massey reviewed the replays after the final.

“It's frustrating because the video I saw looked pretty convincing to me,” Massey said. “In my opinion, it's one of those things, if that's something that's not repealed, then I don't really know what's clear and convincing, and I'm not really sure what the system is about if such a thing is Decision that is not.” (overturned). We marked him. We could see a clear contact. We could see the daylight between his foot and the base.”

But it wasn't clear enough for Conroy to change the call.

“There’s a little bit of dirt getting in the way,” Massey said. “We are playing an imperfect game. It’s outside, there’s wind, there’s rain, there’s dirt.”

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AP freelance writer Larry Fleisher contributed to this report.

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