The Boston Red Sox owe umpire Chris Guccione a thank you for the assist on JD Martinez’s home run in Game 5 of the ALCS on Thursday.
Martinez was batting with one out in a scoreless game and had an 0-2 count. Justin Verlander painted the outside corner with a beautiful slider, but Guccione inexplicably called it a ball. MLB.com’s tracker shows the pitch was over the corner and in the strikezone.
Umpire misses a clear strike 3 and on the next pitch Martinez hits a HR. Sounds about right. pic.twitter.com/ORGHQUnXx4
— Mike Nash (@MikeNash15) October 19, 2018
J.D. Martinez and the Red Sox got a gift from Chris Guccione on what should've been strike 3, Verlander hung a curve and the Red Sox have a 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/xwkBdeI8TQ
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) October 19, 2018
The very next pitch, Verlander hung a breaking ball that Martinez launched over the left field wall for a solo home run to put Boston up 1-0 on the Houston Astros.
JV, meet J.D. pic.twitter.com/V2gjyNrWaf
— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2018
Martinez should have been retired on a strikeout looking for the second out of the inning. Instead he ends up accounting for the first run of the game.
Between this and what happened in Game 4, the Astros have to be furious with the umpires.
