Rays Red Sox
The blown call helped the Rays take a half-game lead over the Red Sox. Reuters

The Tampa Bay Rays took over first place in the American League East on Monday night with a win over the Boston Red Sox. However, the victory came under a cloud of controversy.

Tampa Bay squeaked by Boston with a little help from the umpires. With the Rays up 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Red Sox had runners on second and third with one out. When Brandon Snyder hit a fly ball into left field, pinch-runner Daniel Nava tagged up and tried to score and tie the game. Nava clearly slid under the tag and should have been called safe, but umpire Jerry Meals ruled him to be out and the inning ended.

Soon after the blown call, Red Sox manager John Farrell was ejected. Boston went on to lose by the same score. After the contest, Meals admitted that the replay showed he should have made a different call.

"What I saw was: [Jose] Molina blocked the plate and [Daniel] Nava's foot lifted," Meals said. "But in the replays, you could clearly see Nava's foot got under for a split second and then lifted, so I was wrong on my decision. From the angle I had, I did not see his foot get under Molina's shin guard."

The blown call is one of many that have been highlighted in the 2013 MLB season. On May 8, the Oakland Athletics lost to the Cleveland Indians when umpire Angel Hernandez blew a home run call that would have tied the game. He ruled the play a double, even after looking at the replay.

Below is video of Monday’s blown call that may have cost the Red Sox the game. They had two more runners on in the ninth inning, but Mike Napoli struck out to end it.

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