Was it fair or foul? Dodgers clinch shutout over Rangers on confusing final play

ARLINGTON -- Nothing, it seemed, went right for the Rangers on Friday night in a 3-0 loss to the Dodgers.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Rangers down by three, third baseman Josh Jung represented the tying run at the plate for Texas.

Jung drove a slider out of the hand of Tanner Scott down the third-base line. The chopper appeared to bounce twice, first in fair territory and then, on the second hop, landed in foul territory before kicking back into fair territory and into the glove of Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who started a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.

Jung, thinking the ball was foul, did not run toward first base for several seconds.

“I'm standing there watching it, so I thought it was foul,” Jung said. “I guess it hit something and came back and it was fair.”

Third-base umpire Nick Mahrley signaled fair, but Jung was unclear on the call in the moment.

“It was a quick, herky-jerky movement,” Jung added. “Not a smooth motion. It is what it is.”

The end of the game was delayed shortly as Jung asked to review the fair call.

“I just wanted to make sure that [the home plate umpire] got to look at it too,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “Both of the umpires. The ball was foul and it hit something and kicked back. We couldn’t tell where it kicked back and whether it caught the bag or not. That determines if it's fair, and that's what they were saying.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he was shocked that Jung didn’t run it out before arguing his case, but noted that the Rangers star is a quality player overall.

“I just appreciate the way [Muncy] played it out,” Roberts said. “And it wasn’t an umpire. It did start foul, came back, and the umpires got it right. Fortunately, we saved Tanner some pitches and won a ballgame.”