Baseball fans in favor of robot umpires may want to bookmark the first inning of Friday night’s Red Sox game.
With two outs and a runner on second, starter Brian Johnson appeared to strike out the Angels’ Justin Upton on a 76.8-mile-per-hour curveball to end the inning. Catcher Christian Vazquez tossed the ball to first baseman Mitch Moreland, and the Sox should have been on their way to the dugout with leadoff batter Mookie Betts ready to take the plate.
But umpire Mark Ripperger never signaled that Johnson’s pitch was, in fact, a strike.
Instead, on a full count, he deemed it a ball.