Brandon Brown
After reaching a season-high three games above .500 with a victory on June 1, the San Diego Padres lost five consecutive games and fell to 32–34. In Thursday night’s 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, they had a chance to tie the game in the ninth with a runner in scoring position, but Jake Cronenworth was called for hitting to end the game. The field was out of zone.
Here’s a look, along with Padres broadcasters and their understandably angry reaction:
In terms of vertical positioning, it is possible that the ball touched the top of the hitting zone, but this is irrelevant because, horizontally, the ball did not pass the outside corner. It was out and should have been called a ball. It was a mistake by referee Erich Bacchus.
The Padres remain in the third and final NL Wild Card spot right now thanks to an incredibly top-heavy NL, but let’s focus on the bottom line here: ending a game with a missed call.
I’ve asked this before, but this is where the ball-striking challenge system they currently use at the Triple-A level could have come in handy. In the minors, the batter would just immediately hit his head to contest the call and then the ABS system would reveal whether the ball hit the zone or not.
Regardless, that’s not an option in the majors and this game ended with the Diamondbacks holding on. We don’t know if the Padres would have tied the game or not if the call had been correct, and that’s the problem.
Cronenworth and his manager, Mike Shildt, were rightfully upset after the game, by San Diego Union-Tribune:
“It was a ball,” Cronenworth said. “I don’t even know what to say. He took the bat out of my hands at the end of the game. It sucks. It all comes down to his decision.”
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“You know, listen, man, you can’t end a game with a ball six inches from the plate and almost high,” said coach Mike Shildt. “I mean, listen, this is just not acceptable. We lost. I take responsibility for that. I don’t want to blame anyone, but this is a bad way to end the game.”
I would dispute it being six inches off target, but it was definitely a bad decision and it’s hard to end a game that way.
Calling balls and strikes with the naked eye has never been so difficult. Not only do pitchers throw harder than ever before, but there is also more movement than ever before and a wide variety of breaking pitches. Additionally, fans can now see a graphic of the hitting zone on-screen in broadcasts and can easily find graphs of where pitches passed through the zone on personal devices, increasing scrutiny of balls and umpires’ strikes.
It looks like the next step here is the challenge system using the ABS as the referee.
Until then, we will see many such disputes.
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