Plenty of people are going to speak their minds over the call at the end of the Pirates-Braves game Wednesday morning in Atlanta, but the only opinion that matters spoke up after the game. Here's what umpire Jerry Meals had to say according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman.
"I saw the tag, but he looked like he oléd him and I called him safe for that. I looked at the replays and it appeared he might have got him on the shin area. I’m guessing he might have got him, but when I was out there when it happened I didn’t see a tag.
"I just saw the glove sweep up. I didn’t see the glove hit his leg."
Here's video of the play in real time.
The frustrating part about those comments if you're the Pirates is that while Meals confirms he didn't see a tag, he stops well short of confirming he saw the lack of a tag as well, which indicates he probably didn't know what happened either way. He guessed, guessed wrong, and didn't bother consulting the other umpires before walking off the field to end the game. Now the Pirates pay the consequences.