Umpires clarify Tuesday's controversial ruling against White Sox

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Had the umpire ruled in their favor, the White Sox might not have carried a three-game losing streak into Wednesday’s contest.

At the very least, Evan Gattis wouldn’t have had the chance to beat the White Sox until the 12th inning.

As it were, plate ump Tony Randazzo ruled that Carlos Correa had not interfered on Alex Avila’s throw to second base with two outs. Three pitches later, Gattis homered off Matt Albers and the White Sox lost to the Houston Astros 6-5 in 11 innings.

While there was confusion among the teams after the game, Randazzo and crew chief Tom Hallion cleared it up Wednesday. Had Randazzo determined that Correa had interfered, George Springer would have been out on the bases and the inning would have been over. According to Rule 6.01 (a)(5), when interference is determined to have occurred, the runner is out if the interfering batter has already made the second out of the inning. If interference occurs earlier in the at-bat, on a 1-1 pitch for example, the runner simply would have returned to second base. From Randazzo’s viewpoint, no such infraction occurred.

“I just felt like (Correa) didn’t hinder or impede (Avila’s) throw to second base,” Randazzo said.

Avila and White Sox manager Robin Ventura disagreed.

Ventura said he and Randazzo had a difference of opinion on the play while Avila went a step further. Avila, who threw high to avoid hitter Correa, who is six inches taller, believes he needed to make contact with the batter to better sell the call.

“I couldn’t step through it and tried to throw over him,” Avila said. “I think according to the rules there has to be some sort of contact. Problem is, if I throw normal there, I smoke him in the head. Next time I’ll just throw it and hit him, but that’s not something I would wanna do. That’s unfortunate that’s how it is. Your reaction is to kind of get out of his way and make the play but next time if there’s a batter in front — I’d feel bad.”

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