San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)

Giants show their frustratio­n with ninth-inning replay decision after Thursday night’s loss to Dodgers.

- By John Shea “There’s no accountabi­lity for those guys. Anytime it’s close, they can just say it’s inconclusi­ve. That seems to be the trend.” Buster Posey on the replay umpires in New York John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball wri

LOS ANGELES — The Giants have experience­d different levels of frustratio­n after losing games this season, but they rarely reach Thursday night’s level of outrage.

In the manager’s office, Bruce Bochy slammed a binder on his desk. At his locker, Stephen Vogt swore he was safe on a pivotal play in which he was ruled out. Across the room, Buster Posey questioned the accountabi­lity of umpires in New York who decide on reviews and whether enough cameras are used.

“I’d like to know what they’re looking at in New York,” Bochy said, “because I saw it, and I don’t get it. I don’t get it, and I wish they could show me what they saw because what we saw, and I looked at it right after the game, he was safe at third.”

Amid a frantic ninth inning in which the Giants rallied for four runs to trail the Dodgers 9-8, Vogt was called out on a force play. With no outs and runners at first and second, Tyler Austin put down a bunt, and first baseman Cody Bellinger fielded the ball and threw to third baseman Justin Turner.

It appeared Vogt was safe — foot to the bag before ball to the glove — and the Giants would have had the bases loaded and no outs, trailing by one. But umpire Carlos Torres called Vogt out, and Bochy immediatel­y challenged the call.

When the decision from the umpires in the New York review team was relayed to Dodger Stadium, the Giants couldn’t believe it: “the call stands.” Vogt was out.

That meant the New York crew thought there wasn’t definitive evidence to rule against Torres. That replays were inconclusi­ve. However, the replays shown on television — and the Dodger Stadium scoreboard — seemed to clearly show Vogt was safe.

“There’s no accountabi­lity for those guys,” Posey said. “Anytime it’s close, they can just say it’s inconclusi­ve. That seems to be the trend.”

Posey had a good view as the on-deck hitter. When he stepped in the box, with one out and two runners aboard, Posey hit a liner down the third-base line, barely foul. He hit another ball sharply to center, and it was chased down.

Brandon Belt also hit the ball sharply but flied to right to end the game.

Both Bochy and Posey suggested more transparen­cy is needed from the review team.

“Especially in a situation like that,” Posey said. “It’s such a big part of the game, it would be nice to hear a little bit more than, ‘There wasn’t enough evidence to overturn it.’ ”

Major League Baseball provides teams a descriptio­n of the play, the umpire’s call and the decision from the replay official. In Thursday’s case, it was determined there wasn’t enough evidence that Vogt beat the throw.

MLB’s explanatio­n: “After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official could not definitive­ly determine that the runner’s foot touched third base prior to the ball contacting the interior of the fielder’s glove. The call stands and the runner is out.”

“As I said, that tends to be the trend with a lot of these plays that are not overturned,” Posey said. “If that’s the case, maybe we need to get more cameras out there or something so we can have some conclusive answers, because it kind of defeats the purpose of the system, to me, if it’s just inconclusi­ve.”

The replay officials included two teams, one with Joe West (crew chief ), Eric Cooper, Andy Fletcher and Will Little, the other with Mark Carlson (crew chief ), Scott Barry, Tripp Gibson and Chad Whitson.

The call changed the whole dynamic of the inning.

“It’s a big play in the game, obviously,” Posey said. “The ball I hit now is a sac fly. The runner probably moves up. Belt’s ball probably (scores the go-ahead run).”

Bochy added, “That was a brutal call unless they show me different. It’s a bad break for the guys the way they fought back.”

Vogt said little more than, “I went straight into the bag. I beat the throw. I know I beat that throw.”

As for the sacrifice attempt, Austin said he doesn’t remember the last time he was asked to bunt. He has zero sacrifice bunts in his big-league career, but he said he wasn’t surprised when he got the bunt sign.

“I’ve been feeling terrible at the plate,” said Austin, who was 2-for-24 entering the game. “Anything I can do to help the team win, I’m all for it. Unfortunat­ely, it didn’t work out tonight.”

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