Gio Urshela walks on 3 balls, a breakdown
What Happened
In a close 1-1 game in the top of the sixth inning, New York Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela steps up to the plate against Detroit Tigers pitcher Jacob Funkhouser. Urshela takes the first pitch for a ball. He then fouls off the next two pitches, making the count 1-2. Urshela continues to foul off pitch after pitch, grinding out the at-bat and keeping himself alive. The count reaches 2-2 as Urshela battles Funkhouser. On the next pitch, Urshela fouls it back again, keeping the tense duel going. With the count still 2-2, Urshela takes the following pitch, which appears to be a ball. However, the umpire's reaction is unclear - he raises his left hand but does not definitively call it a ball or a foul. The confusion causes both the Tigers and Yankees dugouts to remain silent, unsure of the actual count. Urshela calmly proceeds to first base, having drawn what he believes to be a walk. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and Yankees manager Aaron Boone do not challenge the play and Urshela's teammate Gleyber Torres starts walking to the plate, indicating they too think Urshela has drawn a walk. After the game, Urshela reveals that he knew he had walked on three balls, but he believes no one else realized it in the moment due to the umpire's ambiguous signal on the previous pitch. The umpire's lack of a clear call seems to be the root of the confusion, leaving everyone unsure of the actual count during Urshela's plate appearance. Urshela's heads-up baserunning and composure under pressure allow him to reach base safely, potentially sparking a late-inning rally for the Yankees in this tightly contested American League matchup.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentall right everyone pay attention
giovanni the goddard shell is up it's a
1-1 game in the top of the six and he
takes ball one
great take by him funkhouser's on the
bump here comes the second pitch of the
at-bat
breaking ball fouls it down the third
base line so we're at one and one
now next pitch nice pitch funky
one and two is the count giovanni which
no one calls and just calls him geo
fouls that one back
count is one and two next pitch it's
high great eye
two and two now we go one more pitch
now that's foul back just staying alive
staying alive
yeah staying alive another foul ball the
count remains two and two
the next one fouled back again geo
having himself in that bat trying to get
the lead off runner on in a tie game
late
ball three geo says yeah i've done it i
have walked
and he runs the first base and no one
stops them and the pitcher just keeps
going
and gleber the on deck circle he just
starts walking to the plate and both
managers don't say anything and what the
hell is that
that was three balls now i think the one
two pitch is the cause for all the
confusion because look how the umpire
reacts
he doesn't throw both hands up and say
foul ball
he just kind of raises that left hand
while searching for a new ball
and i don't know if that's an official
motion or not but i think this is the
cause for all the confusion because
what if that umpire called that a ball
not a foul ball and then he was yelling
and showing a different count
the entire time that may be the case
because look at this
it's on its way it's on its way at this
point
you'd be like wow how is he going to
catch up to that he's pretty behind
and then the barrel comes around and
then this next frame
is the weird one so it looks like he hit
the ball there looks like it never
reached the glove
but one thing's for certain the umpire
sure can't see that
especially how fast it's going the
gloves in front of his face
so maybe he thought he heard leather and
not wood and he didn't call this a foul
ball
and that's why everyone just thought the
count
was three and two because he called this
a ball which would make it two and two
and then you got all the foul balls and
then eventually the walk because no one
reacted
after the game they asked gio did you
know you walked on three pitches and he
said that he
knew but nobody else knew and i think
it's because
geo is the only person that knew that
that pitch hit his bat
and no one else did so congrats sergio
o'rourchella
you know really good secret by him
didn't hit my bat didn't hit my bat i'm
on first