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Wilmer Flores stunned by replay robbery of an extra-base hit

NEW YORK -- There were no tears from Wilmer Flores on Saturday night, but there was plenty of anger. Flores, the New York Mets infielder who cried on the field when he thought he had been traded a year ago, was upset this time because he felt he'd had a home run -- or at least an extra-base hit -- robbed from him by baseball's replay officials.

In the Mets' 7-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies, Flores led off the ninth inning with a long fly ball to left field. Rockies left fielder David Dahl went back to the wall, but a fan reaching over the fence caught the ball. Television cameras caught the fan wagging his finger.

Third-base umpire Chris Guccione ruled home run, and Flores circled the bases. But after Rockies manager Walt Weiss came out to talk to the umpires, crew chief Jeff Kellogg called for a video review.

The replay umpires called Flores out, ruling that Dahl would have caught the ball without the interference. Mets manager Terry Collins was then ejected after a brief argument. Flores was stunned.

"All I know is you can't f---ing assume," Flores said. "You can't assume he's going to catch the ball."

Collins made the same argument with Kellogg. In Flores' mind, even if the ball wouldn't have gone out of the park without the fan's help, Dahl wouldn't necessarily have caught it. Asked if he thought he deserved to be given a double, Flores said, "at least.”

"Who's going to say he's going to catch it?" he said. "He didn't even reach for the ball. He didn't even jump."