SAN DIEGO – The way Robbie Ray saw it, he threw the ball well on Sunday afternoon. He executed pitches. He missed bats. He allowed barely any hard contact. And yet, in his eyes, he became the latest pitcher to be victimized by something entirely out of his control.
“Something’s got to change,” Ray said.
Ray gave up a fourth-inning homer to the San Diego Padres’ Ty France on a ball that was not struck particularly hard. It managed to clear the right-field fence. Ray saw it as the latest piece of evidence that the balls being used in the majors this season are compromised, and that they’re changing the game for the worse.