Brewers Take 2-0 World Series Lead as Check-Swing Appeal Ends Game 2, a Call That Can't Be Reviewed

The Milwaukee Brewers lead the World Series 2-0 after a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, Oct. 24, at American Family Field. The game ended on a call no one can appeal.

Brewers up 5-4 in the top of the ninth. Two outs. Jonny DeLuca on third after a leadoff double and a groundout. Yandy Díaz at the plate, count full, with the tying run 90 feet away.

Aaron Ashby threw a curveball. Díaz tried to hold his swing.

How the call went down

Home plate umpire Jim Wolf initially ruled Díaz had not swung. That would have been ball four and put Díaz on first.

Brewers catcher William Contreras appealed to first base umpire James Hoye. Hoye ruled Díaz had gone around. Strike three, game over.

Díaz did not hide his view. "In the moment, yeah, I disagreed. But the umpire said it was a swing and it is what it is," he said after the game. He added: "Ultimately, we lost."

Rays manager Kevin Cash saw it differently. "I didn't go look at it, but from my vantage point, it did look like that he swung," Cash said.

What the rulebook says

Not much. According to MLB.com, there is no definition of a "check swing" in the official baseball rules. The closest language defines a strike as a pitch that "is struck at by the batter."

That leaves it to the umpire's judgment. By convention, a batter has to break an imaginary plane for a checked swing to count. Where that plane sits is not written down anywhere.

MLB brought in the automated ball-strike system this season, letting players challenge balls and strikes. Expanded replay review has been in place since 2014. Neither covers a check swing. The call stands, and it can't be reviewed.

Larry Brown Sports noted that MLB has been testing a check-swing challenge in the minor leagues with an eye toward bringing it to the majors. It is not in use in the big leagues.

The broadcast reaction

Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Davis took aim at the gap on air. "We got ABS for the first time this year getting the balls and strikes right. We need to get a system that can get that right," he said.

The Fox postgame crew appeared split on whether Díaz swung. So did fans, who spent the night arguing over the replay.

The other side of that argument comes from Cash and the umpires' own authority: from his angle, Cash said, it looked like a swing, and Hoye, who had the better look from first base, made the call. Díaz's own account is that he disagreed in the moment but accepts the ruling.

The game itself

The Rays led 4-0 after the first inning. Milwaukee came back with small-ball offense and a home run from Sal Frelick, helped by several Tampa Bay miscues in the field.

The Big Lead reported Rays slugger Junior Caminero erupted in the dugout after a misplay by Chandler Simpson.

Ashby threw 1.2 innings and got the save without allowing a run. The Big Lead put his postseason line at 15.2 scoreless innings across eight games and said that breaks Goose Gossage's record for most scoreless relief innings in a single postseason.

Second straight tight finish

This was the second night in a row a World Series game came down to its last out. In Game 1, a ruling of a game-ending double play was overturned after Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt failed to step on second base. The Rays got an extra out out of it. Milwaukee still held on.

Both games went to the Brewers by one run.

What comes next

There is no game Sunday. The series shifts to Tampa Bay with Milwaukee two wins away from the first World Series title in franchise history.

Whether MLB moves to define the check swing, or bring a challenge system up from the minors, is an open question. The league has not announced any change.