By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com Red Sox InsiderFollow @sean_mcadam
BOSTON -- As if things weren't going badly enough of their own accord, the Red Sox got a bad call from the umpiring crew in their 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday afternoon.
In the fifth inning, with two runs in, Dustin Pedroia on third and two out, David Ortiz ripped a ball down the right-field line.
It looked to be a run-scoring double, but first base umpire Mike Winters ruled otherwise, saying the ball was foul.
Terry Francona sprinted from the dugout to argue with Winters and convinced him to gather the other three umpires to ask what they saw.
The quartet gathered in the middle of the infield to discuss the call and after about 20 seconds, ruled that the call would stand. Although boundary calls on home runs are reviewable by video, fair-and-foul calls are not.
Ortiz then flied to the warning track in center for the final out, stranding Pedroia. As he rounded first and the ball was caught by Matt Angle, Ortiz slammed his batting helmet into the ground in frustration.
"Yeah, when things are going bad, you know . . . this ball was like two foot inside the line," said Ortiz. "And when a situation like that comes down, you go, 'Wow.' You don't see umpires on a daily basis missing calls by that much, but Fenway is a little complicated."
Boston Red Sox
Asked if he thought the ball was fair, Terry Francona said: "No, I know it was. By about a foot-and-a-half."
Added Francona: "They can't get replay because it wasn't a home run. So I asked him, 'Can you ask everybody else?' I told him the guys in the dugout have already seen it (on TV in the clubhouse) and I'd like to get this call right."
"It's just a break in the game and they got it,'' said a sanguine Dustin Pedroia. "That's basically it. We've played a hundred and whatever games and we're not going to say our season's over because an umpire missed a call. We're better than that.
"Yeah, it's frustrating. It's another run, a big hit. But it didn't go our way."
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam