Marlins Lose After Controversial Call in 8th

The Marlins led 1-0 in the eighth before an overturned call led to a tie game and an eventual Reds win

The Miami Marlins fell to the Cincinnati Reds by a final score of 3-1 on Thursday after a controversial call.

In the eighth inning, Giancarlo Stanton threw a line drive to the plate to catch Zack Cozart who was headed home by a clear margin. Home plate umpire Mike Winters called the runner out to end the inning, but the Reds protested that Marlins' catcher Jeff Mathis blocked the plate. The umpires went to replay review per Rule 7.13 in Major League Baseball which is in place to prevent home plate collisions.

Replays showed that Mathis was taken into the running lane on his way to fielding the ball just ahead of the runner arriving. By rule, the runner is out under that scenario. However after a lengthy review, the umpires reversed the call on the field and ruled the runner safe which tied the game. The umpires at the MLB Replay Center in New York City decided that Mathis obstructed the running lane and awarded the plate to the runner.

Marlins' manager Mike Redmond stormed out of the dugout and was immediately ejected. The skipper would throw his hat, pull out part of his jersey and rant for a few minutes before heading off the field.

Tom Koehler gave the Marlins seven strong innings before running into trouble in the eighth. The first two batters of the inning reached and Redmond made a call to the bullpen. In came Mike Dunn who committed an error after throwing only one pitch to load the bases.

With the bags full and nobody out, Redmond walked to the mound again and called upon Bryan Morris. The right-hander struck out the first batter he faced and then produced a fly-out on the next batter. That would end up being a sacrifice fly after the aforementioned replay review. The Reds would go on to add two more runs off Morris.

Two of the runs scored in the eighth were charged to Koehler who ended up on the losing end of things. Koehler is now 7-8 on the season.

Stanton homered in the first inning to give the Marlins an early lead. It was the 25th home run of the season for Stanton. It was also the second consecutive game in which the slugger went deep.

The Marlins have Jacob Turner penciled in to start Friday's game but it is possible newly acquired Jarred Cosart will make the start instead.

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