The San Francisco Giants (22-22) lost their series final against the Cincinnati Reds (15-29) on Wednesday 3:6. Giants-First-Baseman Brandon Belt then complained about the Home Plate Umpire.
With one runner on base and two outs, Belt entered the ninth inning against Closer Raisel Iglesias. He worked out a 3-2-count and then, according to Home Plate Umpire Doug Eddings, took a third strike. He was out and the game was over.
Belt didn’t like that, especially since – as the official pitch FX graphics of MLB.com also show – the seventh and last pitch of the at-bat was clearly outside the strike zone. It should have been the fourth ball and therefore a walk.
Belt indicated to reporters that Eddings decided on strike 3 to get the game over with speed. The day game lasted only 2:41 hours.
“I think 99.9 percent of the Umpires are great and I like talking to them,” Belt told reporters. “But sometimes you get the feeling that one or two of them are just trying to get the game through quickly based on what they say or do. And that just can’t be. “You can’t let these guys influence careers and games like that.”
If Belt had got his walk, Evan Longoria would have been beaten and would have represented the equaliser. The Third Baseman had a total of three hits in the game. “We would have had a really good hitter after me on the record who could have made up for the game for us,” Belt said. “And we didn’t get that chance because Eddings saw a ball as a strike so far off the record that I don’t even think I would have touched it if I’d swung after.”
Belt also noted that Eddings had said several times that he wanted to get the game through quickly. Belt was then asked if he believed the Umpire was serious: “I don’t know. But when you say something enough, you start to believe it.”
All results of the night you will find in our new MLB Scoreboard.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.