A badly-blown call by an umpire left Pirates pitcher Wil Crowe absolutely stunned on Wednesday.
The Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 to take 2 of 3 in the series. Crowe was summoned to pitch in the top of the 7th inning with the game tied 3-3. Crowe was facing Trea Turner with a runner on third and one out. He threw a 1-0 breaking ball for what should have been a strike, but umpire Jansen Visconti somehow missed the call.
Crowe couldn’t believe it.
https://twitter.com/gifs_baseball/status/1524470843929206786
That pitch was a strike every and any way you look at it. The problem is the catcher was set up outside and had to move his glove to catch the ball, which may have led Visconti to think the pitch was out of the zone when it wasn’t.
Unfortunately, many umpires will call a pitch a ball if the pitcher misses his target, without regard for whether the pitch crossed the strike zone. That sort of error is a huge annoyance, and it left Crowe stunned.
Crowe ended up walking Turner and Freddie Freeman, but he got two straight outs to end the bases loaded threat. Daniel Vogelbach homered in the bottom of the inning, and then the Pirates added an insurance run in the 9th to win 5-3. But none of that escuses Visconti for the missed call. And let’s give credit to the announcer for the splendid Enrico Pallazzo reference.
