Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Dodgers Escape With One-Run Win Over Rangers After Questionable Call

A razor-thin tag, a replay that didn’t reverse, and a stolen chance.

Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

It wasn’t the cleanest or most convincing win the Los Angeles Dodgers will log this season, but it still counts in the standings.

Sunday’s series finale against the Texas Rangers ended in frustration (at least for the Rangers), and one very debatable decision, as a game-tying threat was cut short on a ninth-inning steal attempt that turned into an anti-climactic game-ender. The Dodgers walked away with a 1-0 win. The Rangers were left staring at the replay screen.

Wyatt Langford was called out here to end the game pic.twitter.com/P7xJe7R8rD
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 20, 2025

With two outs in the ninth, Texas outfielder Wyatt Langford reached on an infield single to keep the game alive. Jake Burger stepped in representing the winning run, but before he could settle in, Langford broke for second on an 0-1 pitch from Dodgers closer Tanner Scott. Catcher Will Smith threw to shortstop Miguel Rojas, and that’s where things got messy.

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Langford beat the throw and slid in safely, but as he popped up off the bag for a split second, Rojas kept the tag on. Second-base umpire Ramon De Jesus immediately rang him up. Game over.

The Rangers challenged, and replay confirmed what the naked eye had suspected: Langford had slipped off the base for a beat. But did Rojas actually maintain contact with the tag during that brief window? From multiple angles, it looked like Rojas may have missed Langford’s body until he was already back on the base. Still, the call stood. Not confirmed, just not overturned. The threshold for replay reversals is notoriously high, and the benefit of the doubt went to the original call on the field.

“It was really close,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said postgame, choosing his words carefully. “But you’re asking if we thought he was safe? Yeah, we did.” That singular moment unraveled an otherwise tense, tightly-played game. The Dodgers had scratched across their only run early and made it stand up.

It wasn’t flashy, but it was effective. The Dodgers improved to 16-7 on the season, maintaining their early momentum atop the NL West. The Rangers, meanwhile, slipped to 13-9 and had the sting of a near-win that slipped through their fingers, or more accurately, off their base.

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“I’m not gonna say more,” Langford said quietly in the clubhouse. “I think the replay says enough.” Unfortunately for Texas, “enough” wasn’t enough to overturn the call.

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Mohsin Baldiwala

mlb

Mohsin Baldiwala is a Master’s student in Journalism and freelance content producer who got hooked on baseball through Seinfeld’s hapless George Costanza. The same reason why he’s a Yankees fan. He writes about sports because he believes it can offer a brief escape from the world’s chaos. Even if that means enduring the heartbreak of the 2024 World Series.