BOSTON — Red Sox manager John Farrell called for the first challenge in Fenway Park’s illustrious history in Sunday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Red Sox watched an opponent challenge for the first time at Fenway during Monday’s game against the Texas Rangers.
Texas manager Ron Washington challenged a play in the first inning of Monday’s Red Sox-Rangers game. The review lasted one minute and 48 seconds, and the ruling on the field was upheld.
The challenged played occurred when David Ortiz, batting with one out and Daniel Nava on first base, grounded to second baseman Donnie Murphy. Murphy made the play and tossed to second base in an attempt to turn an inning-ending double play. Shortstop Elvis Andrus, who was covering second base, failed to cleanly catch Murphy’s toss, though, and Nava was ruled safe. No outs were recorded.
Washington challenged the play, contesting that Andrus held the ball long enough to secure an out and actually lost control while transferring from his glove to his throwing hand. The umpires determined Andrus never had control, though, and thus the ruling on the field was upheld.
As fate would have it, Mike Napoli grounded into an inning-ending double play moments later.
Check out Monday’s challenge below.
