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Mookie Pets He didn’t have time to throw his bat, loosen the shin guard, or even take a half step to first base.
After laying off what should have been a pivotal ball four with two outs in the ninth inning of a single game Saturday night, the Dodgers superstar was spot on—and in a controversial moment that upset everyone on the visiting side, incorrectly—by home plate umpire Paul Emil. For a third strike at the end of the match.
“He shot it,” Bates said. “There is nothing I can do.”
added Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “It is unfortunate that a missed call determined the final of that match.”
In fact, moments before Bates’ match closed a knockout 6-5 win for St. Louis Cardinals, Dodgers They were about to complete an unexpected comeback.
After three runs early, then fall behind again when Nolan Gorman A triple tiebreaker was fired in the bottom of the eighth, and the Dodgers were brought back to life in the top of the ninth.
Miguel Vargas Double hit bullets. David Peralta followed by a single snap to bring the chain link to the board.
Jason Hayward Then he drove in one run with an RBI double, making it 6-4. will Smith More chipped with a sacrifice fly that cuts basicslead to 6-5. With two outs, there is still a runner on second base.
“There we were,” said Roberts. “We stressed them out.”
However, by that point Emil’s wide strike zone had already formed.
While Smith is at bat, the Cardinals have an disposal Giovanni Gallegos He threw a 3-and-1 fastball that seemed to miss the area – only for Emil to call it a hit.
Roberts disagreed after reviewing the film after the match but conceded that the call was at least in the referee’s “buffer zone”.
On the other hand, the encounter against Bates moments later didn’t seem to come close to cutting the plate.
After being two paces behind, Bates again struggled and worked the full count, contenting himself with drawing a walk and passing the baton to Freddie Freeman If he doesn’t get the pitch he likes.
Gallegos’ compensation offer certainly didn’t apply – an outfield fastball, despite being decently framed by catcher Wilson Contreras, was obviously several inches wide.
“Mookie is really good at not swinging balls,” his teammate said JD Martinez He said.
Only, without hesitation, Emil clenched his fists, pointed to his hands and called it a blow.
half over. game over. Return is incomplete.
“It sucks when a game ends that way,” Martinez said. “In that case, it’s one of those things you don’t want to happen.”
Although Bates was visibly frustrated by the moment, raising his hands in disbelief before walking away from the plate, he cautiously recounted the sequence after the game.
“It was a good performance. There was nothing else I could have done.” “At that point, it slipped out of my hand and into his hand…. I wish it were different, but there’s nothing I can do.”
Roberts and Martinez are not underestimated.
“He missed it,” said Roberts. “Just seeing Mookie’s reaction, and then going back and looking how far he was, doesn’t give the hitter a chance. That’s what’s disappointing.”
“Go back and look at it—I don’t want to get myself into trouble,” added Martinez, barely biting his tongue.
Martinez had helped spark the comeback several innings earlier, smashing a three-run homer in the sixth off St. Louis. Miles Mikulas It wiped out the Cardinals’ early 3-0 lead.
“I just fought it,” said Martinez, who has six home runs and . 805 on base plus a slow season. “Luckily, I got a promotion.”
Dodgers start Noah Syndergaard He also settled down after a spotty start to the night, as he finished his five-and-three-run start with three consecutive scoreless innings—his most consecutive zeros in a game since April 19.
“The first couple of innings, I was like, ‘Here we go again, another bad outing,'” said Syndergaard, who has suffered from a finger blister and mental blockages in recent weeks. “I felt like I was finally finding my groove in those last three rounds.”
The Dodgers held the score tied until Gorman’s kickoff Victor Gonzalez In the eighth inning, the first run the left reliever gave up all season.
However, the Dodgers were in a position to stretch out the game—if not win—into the ninth until Emile stopped their rally with his freakout strike.
“We felt good where we were,” Roberts said with a sigh. “You hate to see the game defined by someone who isn’t wearing a player’s uniform.”
This story originally appeared Los Angeles Times.
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