Umpire apologizes for missing strike three call, a breakdown
What Happened
In the top of the third inning, with two outs, Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford steps up to the plate against Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller. Keller opens the at-bat with a big, looping curveball that Crawford is clearly not expecting. The young Mariners star is caught off balance and the pitch easily crosses the plate for strike one. Keller follows up with an even tighter slider on the inside corner, catching Crawford off guard again and leading to a quick 0-2 count. Pittsburgh catcher Jason Delay calls for a high fastball as the third pitch, but Keller misses his location, leaving the ball down in the zone. The home plate umpire, however, does not agree with the call and rules it a ball, much to the frustration of Keller. "The umpire consistently not giving him this spot that he's aiming at that he can't get called a strike but he's hitting it perfectly," the announcer notes. "It's close. They have it as a strike. They don't. Umpires miss." After the missed strike three call, Keller comes back with a well-located cutter to get Crawford to ground out and end the inning. As Keller walks off the mound, the umpire approaches him and says, "Hey man, on that pitch, that's my bad. I missed that one." Keller simply replies, "It's okay. We're good. Thank you. Appreciate you," showing his professionalism in the face of the umpire's honest mistake. The announcer praises the interaction, saying, "If you're going to miss spots, be honest about it." Throughout the at-bat, Keller displays excellent pitch sequencing and command, but is ultimately undone by a missed call from the umpire. The incident highlights the human element of the game and the importance of sportsmanship, even in the face of frustrating officiating decisions.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentEarly in this game, Pavetta really wanted this spot and he kept hitting it and he kept wanting
the strikeout and he doesn't get it there in the first inning and then in the second inning he hits
it again and he wants the strikeout and he doesn't get it and then later in the second inning he
wants strike one and he doesn't get it and the ump consistently not giving him this spot that
he's aiming at that he can't get called a strike but he's hitting it perfectly. Kind of frustrating
because he thinks it's a strike and he's just dotting it and the umpire's like, nah, not a
strike. It's close. They have it as a strike. They don't. Umpires miss. Anyway, we move on to the
third inning. There's two outs. J.P. Crawford is up and he's going to open him up with a nice
get-me-over curveball. Crawford was not sitting curve and then a little tighter slider on the
inside. I actually like that one-two combo. The first one, this is going back, I rewound to the
first one and it's a big old curve and he's not sitting that. He says, okay, well,
now I would think you might come fastball now. Instead, he's going to go breaking pitch again
but a different breaker. Both sides of the plate, he's gotten the call with the breaker. So, what
are they going to do now? He says, up, up, up, up. I want a high fastball. That's great. Well,
he misses his spot but he hits the spot but he doesn't hit the spot. Let's watch that pitch
again. I mean, the catcher says, hey, high fastball. That would be a good third pitch off
of that. He misses. The catcher puts the glove like aim here but then lower the pitch. He's
because that's how you get the call better. You're supposed to. This didn't really work here
and he goes a little lower but it is a beautiful pitch. If he was aiming for that, it'd be wonderful
except the umpire doesn't think so. Pavetta doesn't yell. He doesn't scream. He doesn't
get upset. He doesn't say anything. He just walks back and says, are you sure? Okay. Doesn't say
anything though. Cordial umpire probably respects that. There's the pitch again. Beautiful strike
three pitch. It would have ended the inning.
He didn't. So anyway, the next pitch, he's going to come back in with that cutter. They call that
a cutter and they get the out and what happens here is the home plate umpire is going to walk
up to him and say, hey man, on that pitch, that's my bad. He says, it's okay. We're good. Thank you.
Appreciate you and you got to love that. That's my bad. I missed that one. It's okay. You're good.
Thank you. You know, just cordialness. If you're going to miss spots, be honest about it. He
missed a low pitch from Pavetta the rest of the game. Double thumbs up.