Angel Pagan came to the plate in the top of the ninth inning with the Giants down 5-3 to the Reds. Two outs One out. Two strikes on the batter. And then: heroics! A three run bomb off closer Sean Marshall that ended up winning the game for San Francisco!
Except … check out the pitch right before the home run:
That third one was the 0-2 pitch. And it was called a ball. The fourth one — which was the fourth strike Marshall threw — was the homer.
I know a pitcher has to shake off a bad call and make his pitches — and it’s not like the umpire caused Pagan to hit it over the fence — but man, it’s a lot harder of a game when you have to throw four strikes to a hitter and not just three.
