PHOENIX – When umpires told Jesse Winker that he had to stay at second base, he broke into a smile and made a thumbs down motion.
Winker crushed the first pitch of Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, his first time back in the lineup after a four-game absence, to the center-field wall. The ball hit the yellow padding and ricochet off a pool chair that was backed against the wall before bouncing back onto the field.
It was ruled a double on the field. Umpires gathered and initiated a replay review. Crew chief Larry Vanover put on a headset and waited for nearly two minutes before the replay review crew in New York informed him that the call stood.