Controversial KC Gm. 6 HR upheld by replay

Mike Moustakas homered in the second inning for the Royals. (USATSI)

The Royals jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Blue Jays thanks to a pair of solo home runs. Ben Zobrist did so in the first with Mike Moustakas going deep in the second.

Moustakas’ home run was a close call. Check it out:

There was a replay review to determine whether or not a fan had interfered. It was real close:

Now, the rail doesn’t matter, it’s the padding. Here is the ground rule for Kauffman Stadium:

Batted ball in flight striking the top of the outfield wall above the out-of-town scoreboards and bouncing over the fence: Home Run.

Batted ball in flight striking the railing above and behind the out-of-town scoreboard in right field and rebounding onto the playing field: Home Run.

So the determination the replay official needed to make was whether the ball was going to hit the padding that is facing the field. It was definitely going to hit the padding, but if it hit on top, you have to leave that as a home run.

Frankly, it feels like they got the call correct. There’s no clear-cut way to be able to definitively say that the ball was going to hit the on-field side of the padding, just as there’s no way to definitively say the ball was going to hit the top of the padding either. We just can’t tell, so the call had to stand.

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