Salvador Perez did not tag up at third. Watching replay makes that obvious. With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Omar Infante lined out to second baseman Ian Kinsler. With almost no chance at all to complete a double play, Kinsler threw to shortstop Eugenio Suarez. Suarez missed the ball. Perez ran home to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.
Except Perez never returned to third base first. So he's out. Right?
Right. Eventually. The game remained 1-1 and the inning ended.
But boy did that one got complicated quick.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus came out and spoke to the umps, who spoke to each other, then spoke to instant replay officials in New York then spoke to each other, then spoke to each other some more, then eventually decided Perez did not tag up so he was out. Which brought Royals manager Ned Yost out to speak some, too.
Fox's broadcast later showed the Tigers did appeal with a throw to third, despite confusion during the TV broadcast about that earlier.
Hard to explain why umps were so confused.
This entire episode was just weird.
Update: the Tigers scored two runs in the top of the seventh for a 3-1 lead, making this a huge momentum shift.
Update 2: The play was not overturned on replay, as it was not reviewable. However, the umpire crew believed Perez did not tag up and ruled him out. Crew chief Larry Vanover, via Chris Iott of MLive:
"He started back, but he didn't touch the bag. So at that point, we overturned the call and that's when I went to the middle of the infield, signaled the guy out and waved off the runner. ... The video board did not come into play in the decision. You're not allowed to do that."
The Royals are not happy:
Royals officials are in discussions with MLB headquarters to see if they have any recourse in terms of protesting this game.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) September 20, 2014
The Royals are dubious they have any recourse. Both players and team officials are quite upset, as one would expect.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) September 20, 2014
Salvador Perez was quite perplexed. "I don't know if they can challenge that. I don't know. What do you guys know about that?"
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) September 20, 2014