Yankees baffled by umps', replay crew's critical decision in Twins win

The call led to the game-winning run and helped the Twins snap a 10-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium.
Yankees baffled by umps', replay crew's critical decision in Twins win
Yankees baffled by umps', replay crew's critical decision in Twins win /

Yankees fans can argue that the only reason the Twins beat their team Thursday night is because of a missed call by the umpires and replay officials. 

With the game tied 2-2 and one out in the eighth inning, Twins outfielder Jake Cave hit a grounder to first baseman Marwin Gonzalez, who flipped the ball to the pitcher Wandy Peralta, who stepped on the bag a moment before Cave. 

The first-base ump called Cave safe, prompting a quick challenge from the Yankees. 

The replay officials stood with the call on the field, apparently coming to the conclusion that Peralta didn't have full control of the ball, though that's entirely speculation because a reason was not provided during the game. 

It proved to be the decisive call because two batters later Carlos Correa crushed a two-run homer to put the Twins up 4-2. Minnesota's bullpen gave one run back in the bottom of the eighth, as is tradition, and then held on by getting out of a one-out, based-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 win. 

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone was asked about the call after the game. 

"What do you think?” Boone responded to a reporter. “I think he’s out. We’ve got to live with the [call] stands. That’s just how our system goes."

If Cave had been called out, Correa never would've come to the plate in the eighth inning. Instead, the questionable call gave the Twins life and helped them score the game-winning run. 

Minnesota will take it any way they can because the Yankees have blasted them 114 of 154 games dating back to 2002, and the victory snapped a 10-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium. 

New York is 24-2 against the Twins in the Bronx since 2015 and 53-14 at home against Minnesota since 2002.


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.