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With Sunday’s victory over the Yankees, the Red Sox swept their rivals and improved to a 66-58 record. But the victory did not come without a controversial moment.
Red Sox reliever Nick Pivetta had New York’s Harrison Bader down 0-2, and appeared to strike him out with a 96-mph four-seamer down the middle of the plate.
But home plate umpire Junior Valentine called the pitch a ball, extending the at-bat and perplexing NESN analyst Lou Merloni.
“Oh my God,” Merloni said after the pitch. “What are we doing?”
It appears as though everyone else involved thought the same thing. Pivetta, McGuire, and even Bader all began walking off the field after the pitch. When Valentine declined to ring Bader
up, Pivetta stood in stunned silence.