Cardinals Runner Overruns Second Base and is Safe Despite Being Tagged - Did Replay Get it Wrong?

[Lindsay]

With the bases loaded and two out, Cardinals runner R1 Taylor Motter sensed that a force out at second base would negate a potential St Louis run and opted to run through the base, ruled out by 2B Umpire Adrian Johnson. For good measure, Diamondbacks 2B Nolan Gorman tagged Motter's leg past second base, but Replay Review upon Oli Marmol's challenge curiously ruled Motter safe on all accounts, allowing the inning to continue with the bases loaded. Was this the correct call?

Cardinals batter Lars Nootbaar grounded to Arizona shortstop Nick Ahmed, who threw from the hole to Gorman at second base, resulting in a bang-bang play as Motter arrived as Gorman stepped on the bag. After the play, Cardinals manager Marmol challenged 2B Umpire Johnson's force out call and Replay Review overturned the ruling, finding that baserunner R1 Motter did indeed beat Gorman to second base.

However, despite the fact that Gorman clearly tagged Motter's thigh past second base, the Replay Official failed to declare Motter out, allowing baserunner R3 Tyler O'Neill to score while depriving us of a time play that was similarly quite close.

The bigger issue here is that Replay's decision to effectively kill play after the third out and disregard the tag that clearly and obviously occurred after the incorrect force out call at second base runs in contrast to how MLB has treated overturned third outs in the past. For instance, the Mets in 2018 ran what we call a "false fourth out" play, in which a catcher after tagging a runner out for the apparent third out continued playing, throwing the ball to third base for another tag and another (false fourth) out. In that game, Replay overturned the out at the plate, but allowed the out at third base to stand, ending the inning.
Related Post: False Fourth Out - Ball Stays Alive After Third Out (7/25/18).

Thus, it would appear that this is a case not of Replay disregarding the continuous action (tag beyond second base) that occurred after the force out attempt due to the ball becoming dead at the third out, but more likely Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo failed to challenge the tag beyond second base that occurred after the force out—a type of false fourth out.

The logic and precedent suggests that either Replay Review has gone rogue on baseball's prior interpretation of this situation or that Lovullo simply didn't get the job done for his team.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Why was Cardinals R1 Motter Safe at 2nd Despite Being Tagged? (CCS)

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[Velho]

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[SeeingEyeDog]

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~Dawg