In a quirky moment from the Brewers vs. White Sox game, Milwaukee found themselves in a jam despite no hard-hit balls. A few bloopers and dribblers loaded the bases with no outs. Then came a play at the plate where the runner was called safe, but the home plate ump never actually saw the foot hit home because the ball nearly hit him. Milwaukee didn’t challenge immediately but used a mound visit to buy time for a replay review on whether the runner touched the plate. After the visit, they appealed, then challenged when the appeal upheld the original safe call.
Craig Counsell played it cool, saying “I think” the runner missed home even though replay made it clear. The umpires eventually overturned the call. Then Tony La Russa stepped in, arguing that using a mound visit to delay and sneak in a challenge broke an MLB rule he helped write while working in the league office. He claimed you can’t challenge after a mound visit, but the umpires called New York, and the league confirmed that it was legal. Game resumed, confusion cleared up.
Corbin Burnes ended the mess by walking in a run but quickly retired the next two batters to end the inning. In the end, the Brewers gave up just one run, and the incident highlighted a clear loophole in MLB’s challenge system. No harm done on the scoreboard, but it stirred up some rulebook drama and exposed how teams can manipulate replay timing.