The San Francisco Giants are going to look back at Sunday’s loss to the Reds and wonder what could have been with that third-inning grounder.
With the Reds already up a couple runs in the third, Joey Votto hit a chopping grounder down the first-base line that Brandon Belt calmly fielded and stepped on first. It seemed simple enough in real time — an inning-ending groundout to first base. But first base umpire Gabe Morales gave Votto new life with a foul call.
It was initially unclear what Morales was seeing, but he appeared to rule that Belt’s glove was in foul territory when he fielded the ball in front of the bag.
