Tigers defend umpires’ call on rain delay, game’s end

The last time the Tigers were here in Boston, manager Jim Leyland made headlines across baseball with his rant on the umpiring over the four-game series at the end of May. When Jerry Layne made the call to start Tuesday’s game in the rain, delay the game when the rain finally grew harder in the sixth inning, then call the game when the rain wouldn’t stop, you figured he was in for an interesting postgame interview.

Instead, he took the high road, or at least the pragmatic one.

“At some point, umpires have to make a call,” Leyland said. “It’s a tough call. Whether we could’ve gotten that, you’ve got the bases loaded, you’re a little bit excited that you have a shot, but the umpires do the best they can