Rangers take lead on wild play in 7th inning (Video)

The Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays are battling in a winner-take-all Game 5 at Rogers Centre in the American Legaue Division Series, and a wildly controversial play might be the difference.

After Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 2-2, Texas second baseman Rougned Odor led off with a single. After Odor reached third base with two outs, Shin Soo-Choo stepped to the plate and took a pitch. When Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin threw the ball back to pitcher Aaron Sanchez, the ball struck the bat and bounced to third baseman Josh Donaldson.

Odor raced home and scored, only to have home plate umpire immediately rule that the ball was dead. After Rangers manager Jeff Banister complained, the umpires got together and ruled that the ball was in play, and awarded Odor home plate. An irate crowd at Rogers Centre booed lustily while showering the field with beer bottles and other objects, forcing a lengthy delay.

During the delay, the umpires got on the phone and called into the Major League Baseball command center in New York City to review the play. The call was upheld, putting Texas only nine outs away from the American League Championship Series. Here is video of the fans going off:

By rule, the umpires are allowed to make a judgement call. If the umpire feels that the batter was in his box and was not trying to interfere with the throw from catcher to pitcher, the ball can be deemed live. On replay, Choo had the bat extended away from his body but was not outside of the batters box. It appeared Choo did nothing wrong.