A call you simply cannot miss at the end of the USA vs. Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic semi-finals has everyone in an uproar – but no one was more frustrated than Juan Soto.
After Geraldo Perdomo was rung up on a ball at least a few inches below the strike zone to secure a 2-1 semifinal win for Team USA, Soto told reporters he knows who the true best team in the world is.
“We showed the world who’s the best team in baseball,” the Mets star told reporters postgame. “That’s all I got to say.”‘
Soto was also called out on a slider below the zone, thrown by Garrett Whitlock in the eighth inning. It was another pitch that was not particularly close and thwarted a potential rally for a loaded Dominican team.
For Perdomo, he was caught looking on a 3-2 pitch that would have put men on first and third with two outs in a 2-1 game.
Statcast projects the ball to Perodomo was roughly 2½ inches below the zone.
Instead, it was game over, and the USA began celebrating as Mason Miller took a sigh of relief after nailing down the tense save.
“I knew 100% it was a ball,” Perdomo added. “I knew it.”
Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz took a bit of a different approach to the ending of Sunday’s contest.
“It’s part of the game,” Cruz told reporters. “You lost by inches. We’ll have ABS in a few years, so hopefully next time we can challenge plays like that.”
The World Baseball Classic does not yet use the Automated Ball Strike (ABS) system to help avoid horrendous calls like this, which leave everyone frustrated with the outcome of games.
The system has been being tested out in the minor leagues and is coming to MLB this season.
Team USA’s center fielder, Pete Crow-Armstrong, added that he could see the ball was low from a few hundred feet away.
“It looked a little down. Yes, I’m glad we had no ABS,” Crow-Armstrong said postgame.“I’m happy that the human element was in full effect.”
Team USA now moves forward to face the winner of Venezuela vs. Italy on Tuesday night as they send Mets rookie phenom pitcher Nolan McLean to the mound as the game’s starting pitcher.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
