Thursday afternoon, the Cincinnati Reds completed off their three-game sweep of the Houston Astros at Nice American Ball Park (CIN 1, HOU 0). Ty France, who went 9 for 11 within the sequence, hit a solo residence run for the sport’s solely run.

There was some controversy within the fourth inning, when it appeared Rhett Lowder hit Alex Bregman with a pitch. The pitch solely grazed Bregman’s forearm, and residential plate umpire Brian O’Nora initially referred to as it a foul ball. The Astros challenged the decision, the replay reveals fairly clearly that it was not a foul ball, but the decision stood. It was dominated a foul ball. 

This is the play:

It was introduced that the decision “stands” after replay, and that’s official terminology. “Stands” means the replay crew didn’t see sufficient proof to overturn the decision. “Confirmed” means they noticed conclusive proof to stay with the decision on the sector, and “overturned” means they noticed conclusive proof to vary the decision on the sector.

So, for the reason that name “stands,” meaning the Astros misplaced the problem of the hit-by-pitch, and thus the decision on the sector stayed the identical. On this case meaning the inaccurate foul tip name stood. That incorrectly referred to as foul tip put Bregman in a 1-2 depend, and he later struck out for the second out. The Astros put the following two runners on base, however didn’t rating within the inning.

“They only stated that, for the reason that name stood, they could not flip it to an precise ball as an alternative of a strike regardless that the replay confirmed it did not hit the bat,” Bregman stated after the sport (through the Houston Chronicle). “… We did not do something offensively at the moment. (The decision) is just not what gained or misplaced the sport by any means. We simply did not do something offensively.”

Astros supervisor Joe Espada was ejected later within the inning for arguing the referred to as strike three on Bregman. 

“I did not assume that ball hit the bat,” Espada stated (through the Houston Chronicle). “Clearly, that is what the replay confirmed. And I simply didn’t agree with the decision.”

Even with Thursday’s loss, the Astros are 75-65 and 5 video games up within the AL West. Houston is well-positioned to with irs fourth straight division title, and seventh within the final eight years.