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Midwest League upholds protest

Hot Rods, Whitecaps to replay game, starting in sixth inning
May 18, 2011
The Midwest League has upheld a protest filed by the Bowling Green Hot Rods, meaning the Class A team will replay the final four innings of Tuesday's loss to the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Hot Rods manager Brady Williams filed the protest after an umpires' ruling cost his team two runs.

Trailing, 4-3, Bowling Green had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning when Steve Tinoco hit a line drive to the right-center field gap. After center fielder Luis Castillo made a diving catch, all three runners circled the bases and scored.

West Michigan initially appealed at second base, where Todd Glaesmann was ruled to have tagged up appropriately. The Whitecaps then appealed at first base, where Kevin Kiermaier was called out.

"I made a mistake on the bases. That could have been a big momentum-changer for us," Kiermaier told the Bowling Green Daily News. "I thought that ball went over [Castillo's] head. I was being a little too aggressive and it ended up hurting us in the end. For me, that won't happen again."

Following a lengthy delay, umpires Dustin Klinghagen and Mike Patterson disallowed the runs scored by Derek Dietrich and Glaesmann before the successful appeal. The Whitecaps went on to post a 6-3 victory.

In upholding the Hot Rods' protest, the league determined the rules had not been applied properly. As a result, Bowling Green was credited with two runs and will have a 5-4 lead when play resumes in the top of the sixth inning on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. ET.

All of the statistics compiled after the controversial play will not count.

Daren Smith is an editor for MLB.com.