Murphy HR, 3 RBIs as A's beat O's; Mancini, Hyde ejected

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Sean Murphy snapped out of an offensive funk and played heads-up defense in a close game, too.

Murphy homered, doubled and drove in three runs while ending an 0-for-10 stretch, and also made an alert play that led to the ejections of Baltimore star Trey Mancini and manager Brandon Hyde as the Oakland Athletics beat the Orioles 6-4 Thursday.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Mancini hit a sharp grounder that second baseman Nick Allen fielded, but his low throw trickled past first baseman Seth Brown.

Mancini ran through the bag and stopped just shy of first-base umpire Rob Drake. As Mancini turned into fair territory to walk back to first, Murphy — hustling from his catcher's spot to back up the play — tagged him. Mancini was called out and held back by Hyde, both of them furious and clearly feeling the Orioles slugger hadn’t made a move toward second.

“Never for one second did I think about going to second base,” Mancini said. “I just turned around to my left and walked back to the bag. If it had even crossed my mind to go to second base, I would have made sure that I got back to the bag quickly. I was very surprised and couldn’t believe it. And I want to apologize for the language I used and the way that I conveyed my message to Rob, but I still don’t agree with the call.”

Hyde said he was told by Drake that Mancini exhibited “intent to go to second base.”

“I just didn’t see any intent by Trey there, he just squared up and went back to first base and Trey thought he did the same thing,” Hyde said. “He told us to look at it, we did and our view there’s no intent there. Those things happen.”

Allen credited Murphy for being ready when the crazy play developed.

“I had to get rid of the baseball and unfortunately it was just a little low and...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Murphy-HR-3-RBIs-as-A-s-beat-O-s-Mancini-Hyde-17118119.php