Strange end to game brings back memories for Price

Six and a half months after being denied a replay review on a controversial walk-off hit in St. Louis, Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price could laugh about the odd way Wednesday night’s game ended.

With the Reds leading 2-0 with two outs in the ninth, Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera was called out at second base on a steal attempt.

Cincinnati pitcher Raisel Iglesias raised his hands in triumph. Teammates ran to greet him. Fireworks exploded overhead. And Philadelphia manager Pete Mackanin cupped his hands over his ears, signaling to crew chief Tom Hallion that he wanted to challenge the call.

“The one thing we were told in the aftermath of the play in St. Louis is anytime anything happens that ends a game, you’d be covering your bases if you got a hold of the home plate umpire and said ‘hey, we’re just taking a look,’ ” Price said.

In that game in St. Louis, Price never got the chance to challenge whether Yadier Molina’s walk-off double should have been a ground-rule double, which would have prevented the winning run from scoring. The umpires left the field and then refused to review it, saying Price waited too long to challenge the call.

In the offseason MLB instituted a 30-second limit for managers to challenge a call. Mackanin didn’t take any chances Wednesday, immediately signaling for a review.

“In that situation you had to check because it could have been the last out of the game and it was a bang-bang at second base,” Price said. “It was an awkward throw and tag. They handled it exactly as they should. I expected that they would challenge that play.

He won the challenge and play resumed, but Iglesias fanned Tommy Joseph two pitches later to set off more fireworks and official victory celebration.

“What would be unusual is if you have a player soaked in purple Gatorade and the play is overturned and they’ve got to go back out there and continue to play,” Price joked. “It would’ve been interesting in St. Louis if I could have gotten out there in time. Then their whole team would have been covered in water and Gatorade.

“The only thing I don’t like about that is that can really kill the excitement of the ballgame,” he added. “I wouldn’t want to do that unless there was some sense that something could have gone awry on that last play.

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