With the White Sox down 4-2 to the Twins, Alejandro De Aza hit a liner to shallow right to lead off the top of the seventh tonight. Darin Mastroianni made a diving play on the ball, but came up a little short, and replays made it clear he grabbed the ball on a hop, leaving De Aza with what should have been a single.
And that’s what it would have been, had first-base umpire Angel Hernandez’s call stood. He ruled no catch on the play, but the umpires gathered afterwards and reversed the call, giving Mastroianni a catch.
How Hernandez allowed that to happen is anyone’s guess. He clearly had the best angle on the play, and while I’m not 100 percent sure about this, he should be functioning as the crew chief with normal crew chief Ed Rapuano apparently on vacation.
As it turned out, the blown call may not make much of a difference. Despite losing a baserunner, the White Sox went on to score four runs in the seventh and take a 6-4 lead. Of course, that only happened after Hawk Harrelson said “That is B.S.” on three occasions, later adding, “That’s ridiculous,” “That’s a joke” and “Boy, I wish I could cuss right now.”
