Elly De La Cruz was ruled safe at second base after a video review Tuesday night, and the call set off two ejections for the Philadelphia Phillies before the inning could end. Bobby Dickerson and Caleb Cotham were thrown out after the reviewed play in the eighth inning of the series opener at Great American Ball Park.
The play started with De La Cruz on first base and one out when Sal Stewart hit a soft grounder to Alec Bohm. Bohm threw to second, De La Cruz beat the throw and ran through the bag without sliding, and Bryson Stott then threw to first ahead of Stewart for what Philadelphia believed was an inning-ending double play. Before the Phillies could leave the field, Umpire Mike Estabrook ruled De La Cruz safe at second and the inning stayed alive.
That ruling is where the fight began. Phillies manager Don Mattingly argued that De La Cruz had abandoned second base, but crew chief Alfonso Márquez said the only issue open to challenge was the safe-out call, not whether the runner had abandoned the play. Márquez also said that on the field, a runner cannot be said to have abandoned the bag if he is safe and returns to it. In other words, the Phillies were arguing a different rule than the one the replay crew could actually review.
Mattingly said Bobby Dickerson was yelling instructions to Bryson Stott when third-base umpire Lance Barrett and home-plate umpire Malachi Moore ejected him, and Cotham was ejected as well after the review. Dickerson had to be restrained following his ejection, adding a jolt to a play that had already changed the inning. The Phillies had expected a double play, but the safe call kept Cincinnati alive long enough for Orion Kerkering to walk JJ Bleday and load the bases.
Eugenio Suárez then struck out to end the Reds’ threat, and Cincinnati finished with a 4-1 win. Mattingly said the club had been told in spring training that runners who run through the bag must show a turn toward third, not drift toward left field, and he said De La Cruz did not turn toward third at all. The reviewed call, and the two ejections that followed it, left the Phillies with a result they could not reverse and a replay explanation that still did not fully answer why the runner was deemed to have stayed in the play.
