For the first time under new owner Steve Cohen, the New York Mets played a game at Citi Field on Thursday afternoon. The Mets played their home game against the Miami Marlins, and it was not without controversy. Miami entered the ninth innings with a one-run lead that was quickly wiped out by Jeff McNeil’s solo home game against Bassin Marlins’ Anthony Bass.
Nothing controversial about it. It was a big oil slick. The Mets then loaded the bases on a single, a double and a deliberate run. Also nothing controversial about it.
The controversy arose when Michael Conforto, with the base loaded and one in a draw, was hit by a pitch to force in the match race (NYM 3, MIA 2). Repetitions show how the ball hits Conforto, there is no doubt about it, although he seems to be leaning into the field. Conforto at best did not bother to get out of the way.
Here is the play:
The referee, Ron Kulpa, was ready to call Conforto there. It looks like the two-strike pitch was in the strike zone, and Kulpa seems to have changed his mind when he was ready to knock out Conforto, and then called the hit per pitch.
“The man was hit by the field in the strike zone,” Kulpa said. Newsday’s Anthony Rieber after the match. “I should have called him.”
Here is the pitch per Statcast. Even if it was not called a strike, it would have gone down as ball as ball two, and the bat would have continued.
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“From my point of view, it was a slider. It felt like it was coming back to me. I turned around,” Conforto told reporters. including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, following the game. “Maybe there was a little lift to my elbow just out of habit, out of reaction, and it barely moved the edge off my elbow shield.”
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Not surprisingly, Marlins manager Don Mattingly was furious, and the referees gathered and reviewed the play. The thing is that only the hit per pitch itself is reviewable. Did the ball height hit Conforto or not? It clearly did. However, you cannot review a sentencing call, and a player protruding his elbow is a sentencing call. You can not review the intent.
“(Kulpa) knows it was a strike. He could not go backwards,” Mattingly said (video link). “Honestly, he probably feels bad. To be honest with you, I’m sure he feels terrible.”
MLB Rule 6.08 (b) hit batsmen and says the field should be called a ball or a strike, depending on its location if the batter did not make the effort to avoid it. Here is the rule:
(The runner is awarded the first base if he) is touched by a ball he is not trying to hit unless (1) the ball is in the hitting zone when it touches, or (2) the batter is not trying to avoid to be touched by the ball;
If the ball is in the hitting zone when it touches the batter, it will be called a stroke, regardless of whether the batter tries to avoid the ball. If the ball is outside the hitting zone when it hits the batter, it will be called a ball if it does not try to touch.
APPROVED ARRANGEMENT: If the ball is touched by a ball that does not give the first base, the ball is dead and no runner may advance.
The pitch was in the hitting zone, according to Statcast, so if Kulpa had determined that Conforto had not made an effort to avoid the field, it would have been tries and the second out of the innings.
“I was just watching the replay … I don’t think he’s leaning, but it’s a way he moves his hands,” said Mets manager Luis Rojas (video link). “Even if he throws himself into the batting practice, he does it on the courts.”
For what it’s worth, the exceptional broadcast goat on SportsNet New York (Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez) said they felt the call was wrong, and that Conforto leaned in the field and had to succeed. They called the repetition system because they also do not play adequately for such plays. There was no homerism on the Mets broadcast.
“A victory is a victory,” Conforto said According to News Daysee Tim Healey. The victory equaled New York’s record at the young season 2-2. The Marlins lost four straight to fall to 1-6.