Why Mike Matheny chose not to challenge Isbel’s close no-catch in Royals’ win Friday

Kyle Isbel seemingly saved a hit with a spectacular snag in the seventh inning of Friday night’s Royals game at Kauffman Stadium. Then the second-base umpire ruled the ball hit the field first.

Isbel, the Royals right fielder, broke well on a line drive from Guardians star José Ramírez, who led off the seventh inning in a tie 1-1 game against Kansas City starter Brady Singer.

Diving on the shallow right-field grass, Isbel appeared to have just made the grab by the webbing of his outstretched glove.

But the second base umpire motioned that the ball was down. Ramírez advanced to second. And Royals manager Mike Matheny chose not to challenge the bang-bang play - the MLB rules state that a call must have “clear and convincing” evidence to be overturned.

“I got a picture as soon as I got to my desk, and you see the ball is in the grass,” Matheny said. “We trust what (our guys) see. We don’t have a monitor. If it’s a 50-50 and that’s something that we believe could get overturned, we’ll take a shot, especially in the last third of the game.”

“But, we get a clear no? The answer is going to come from me as a no.”

In the very next at-bat, Guardians designated hitter Franmil Reyes didn’t give Isbel any chance to make a play, smashing a two-run, go-ahead home run into the right-field Royals bullpen. It was the only blemish on Kansas City starter Brady Singer’s stellar seven-inning, three-run start.

“I think it was caught,” Singer said. “But it was a tough one to overturn.”

If a replay review had ruled a catch, Whit Merrifield’s home run in the eighth inning would have put the Royals ahead 3-2 rather than tied the game 3-3 in the ninth inning, removing the need for Kansas City’s go-ahead run in the bottom of the ninth.

Even removing the home run from the equation, Ramirez’s double added 11% in win probability for the Guardians, taking into account the tied score and no outs in the seventh inning.

It wasn’t the only decision not challenged that Royals fans questioned in the first game of a seven-game homestand on Friday. On Isbel’s second at-bat of the night, he tapped a weak dribbler down the third-base line.

Taking advantage of a slow-reacting Guardians starting pitcher Aaron Civale, Isbel hustled to first but was called out on another extremely close call by the first-base umpire.

The Kauffman Stadium crowd booed the call after watching the replay on the big screen.

On that particular play in the fifth inning, Matheny could have been saving his challenge for a more consequential, close play. But the Royals manager didn’t end up using his challenge at all.

Luckily for him, he avoided the ire of Royals’ fan with the walk-off win.