Seattle Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suarez had a better eye than home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, at least in one instance.
Suarez fell victim to a called third strike on a 3-2 pitch in the top of the 8th inning of Friday’s Game 7 with his Mariners trailing the Blue Jays 4-3. The pitch, a Chris Bassitt curveball, looked to be slightly inside, and was very similar to a pitch Walcott had called a ball earlier in the plate appearance.
Suarez briefly got in Walcott’s face over the call, and could be heard telling Walcott the 3-2 pitch was “the same pitch that you called ball.” Walcott maintained it was not, but replays showed that the two pitches were virtually identical, and were either both balls or both strikes.
Molesto Eugenio Suárez cuando lo poncharon… un pitcheo que parecía bola y el venezolano lo reclamó
— Ismael Rocket Valdez (@valdezrocket) October 22, 2025
Mucho temple del Umpire
pic.twitter.com/zDyYSkwTuv
Walcott deserves credit for letting Suarez walk away, and Suarez probably got a longer leash because of the importance of the game, as well as the fact that he did not prolong the argument.
Had the pitch been called a ball, Suarez would have been on first base as the tying run with one out. Instead, the Mariners were left with two out and nobody on, and they would not get another baserunner for the rest of the game.
That one pitch is not why the Mariners lost Game 7. In fact, they led most of the way, and manager Dan Wilson’s controversial decision had far more to do with the outcome than a borderline pitch called wrongly. In that moment, however, Suarez had every right to be mad.
