ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Things were already unraveling in the sixth inning for the Texas Rangers before the overturned call that gave Seattle yet another run.
That didn’t diminish manager Ron Washington’s feelings about the replay reversal in a 7-1 loss to the Mariners on Monday night.
“There’s no perfection in the game of baseball. Even in review, there’s no perfection,” Washington said. “We’ve got to work through it, but that don’t mean you have to agree with what goes on.”
Seattle had the bases loaded in the sixth, already with four runs in, when Brad Miller hit a comebacker. Relief pitcher Pedro Figueroa threw home, and umpire Paul Schrieber initially ruled a forceout even though catcher J.P. Arencibia bobbled the ball on a transfer without dropping it or making a throw.
Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon challenged, and the call was reversed after a replay review of 3 minutes, 31 seconds. That erased the out and gave Seattle another run.
Washington immediately came out to argue and was ejected by crew chief Ted Barrett because managers aren’t allowed to argue replay rulings. Washington’s ejection came a night after Boston manager John Farrell became the first big league skipper tossed under those circumstances this season.
“It was obvious he caught the ball, the runner was at least 9 or 10 feet from home plate, making his move away from home plate so he don’t have contact, you go to get the ball and he drops it,” Washington said. “I’m all for the review, but still that don’t mean you have to agree with some of the calls that go on because of review.”
Robinson Cano started the Seattle sixth with a single and scored on Michael Saunders’ triple to left-center - a ball that center fielder Leonys Martin bobbled without getting charged with an error. Kyle Seager followed with an RBI single that chased Colby Lewis (0-1), who made his first big league start in 21 months after elbow and hip operations.
Then things got interesting. Dustin Ackley and Mike Zunino had consecutive RBI singles after Arencibia couldn’t pull in a foul ball before reaching out and teetering over a camera-well railing. Mix in two fielding errors, and the bases were loaded.
“A popup we didn’t catch, a groundball double play we didn’t make, from that point on, they swung the bat and made us pay for it,” Washington said.
Arencibia, charged with an error on the reviewed play, said he was off the plate before losing control of the ball.
“I think that’s something that baseball needs to clean up because there are a lot of plays that have happened this year that are outs and giving teams extra outs,” Arencibia said. “I don’t think it’s baseball.”
Umpires in New York confirmed the play was overturned because Arencibia never had secure possession while transferring the ball from his glove to his hand.
Asked his feeling on the transfer rule, which is being enforced more closely with expanded instant replay this season, McClendon responded, “I wish it would all go away, but it is what it is, and we just have to deal with it.”
Roenis Elias (1-1) allowed one run and struck out five over 6 2-3 innings for his first major league victory. The left-hander, who defected from Cuba to Mexico in 2010, has a 2.16 ERA in three career starts.
Lewis made his first major league start since July 18, 2012, allowing four runs (three earned) over 5 1-3 innings. He struck out four and walked one.
The 34-year-old Lewis had right hip resurfacing surgery last August. He is the first known major league pitcher to come back after the procedure to remove bone spurs without a full hip replacement.
“I’d like to thank the Texas Rangers and the organization for giving me an opportunity tonight. It wouldn’t have meant as much for me to get back out there without having this uniform on,” Lewis said. “Overall, I felt great. Everything was really, really good.”
NOTES: Texas scored a single run for the third time in four games - the others were 1-0 victories over Houston. … Seattle had gone 21 consecutive innings without a run before Zunino’s homer in the fifth.
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