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MIAMI, Florida — An elite match up between two baseball juggernauts didn’t deliver a lot of offense last night in Miami at the World Baseball Classic. But how could it? Both pitching staffs were dealing and even two of the best offenses ever assembled by the United States and the Dominican Republic struggled to put runs on the board. The atmosphere was electric, but tense as the final outs ticked down with the Dominican Republic down a run. And then, a gem of a baseball game was erased by multiple missed calls at home plate:
Instead of runners at the corners and two outs to give Fernando Tatis Jr. a chance to tie the game against Mason Miller we got this terrible call:
I know, I know, complaining about the strike zone is so lame. Both teams have the same umpire, yadda yadda. There were so many great plays I’d love to focus on instead, but come on now. The pitches that ended one of the Dominican Republic’s best chances to score in the ninth and Juan Soto’s at bat in the eighth aren’t close and batters shouldn’t be expanding the zone to take those pitches. If you don’t believe me, believe former Cub Robert Stock:
What’s particularly galling about this is that the technology exists to avoid this outcome. It’s been tested in the minors, will be used in MLB this season and is working just fine in Spring Training. However, instead of being deployed in an environment Aaron Judge said “is better than the World Series” we’re grumbling about the strike zone on Monday morning.
Baseball.
Before there was disappointment, there were vibes. Electric, elite vibes, like the ones that filled loanDepot park when the Dominican Republic jumped out to an early lead on this Junior Caminero rocket:
Tatis tried to push the DR’s offensive advantage in the third and learned a hard lesson about Aaron Judge’s arm:
In the top of the fourth, Mark DeRosa’s lineup tweaks started to pay off. Gunnar Henderson got a start at third base and tied it with a no-doubt blast:
A couple of batters later Roman Anthony gave the USA the lead:
Anthony was a mid-tournament addition to the roster for the United States and it paid off in a big way in Miami.
That was it for the scoring in a game that was defined by outstanding defense and pitching. An inning after Anthony’s home run, Judge tried to put one over the wall that was denied by Julio :
You know Vladito and the rest of team DR loved that display:
It was honestly an exceptional display of elite baseball. The concourse was electric, the players were as fired up as you could possibly get. It should have ended in pitching, fielding or hitting heroics. It’s a shame it ended on a blown call, instead.
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