Tigers manager Brad Ausmus: MLB replay system 'needs to be fixed'
Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus says the standards of Major League Baseball’s replay system have changed from last year and that he wants the league to have a more definitive definition on what it considers to be evidence during reviews.
During the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, Tigers outfielder Yoenis Cespedes singled off Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen's leg with the bases loaded, scoring catcher James McCann from third when the ball rolled into foul territory on the first base side. But Joey Votto’s throw beat outfielder Anthony Gose to home plate when he tried to score from second.
Gose was called out, ending the inning. Cincinnati ended up winning the game 5-2.
"In my mind, instant replay has regressed this year," Ausmus said, according to MLB.com. "It's gone backwards. I know I'm not the only one across baseball who feels that way. I'm not seeing that this year....So I think the system needs to be fixed.”
Ausmus said he was “a big fan of instant replay” last season.
"Very quickly in 2014, you kind of had an understanding of where that line was between sufficient and insufficient evidence. That line is blurry now,” Ausmus said, according to MLB.com. “There's been a number of calls this year that I think a year ago would have been overturned. I'm not sure I have a solution for it, but I think it's moving backward."
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Gose later said that the umpire made the right call.
“I shouldn't have been going in that situation,” he said.
When deciding whether to challenge the call, Ausmus had to decide if he felt catcher Bryan Pena illegally blocked the plate or didn’t apply the tag on Gose.
After a nearly four-minute review, the call was upheld.
"That's what I'm saying: We don't know where the line is. We do not understand when they're going to overturn a play unless it is absolutely blatant," Ausmus said, according to MLB.com. "And that's a problem."
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