Mason Miller is human after all. Sort of.
The San Diego Padres closer had not allowed a run in his previous 34.2 innings pitched entering Monday night, but it all ended due to a ball that left the bat at only 49.5 mph and appeared to land in foul territory.
Chicago Cubs’ Matt Shaw came to the dish with the Padres leading 9-5 and the dominant Miller on the bump. He rolled over a 1-1 breaking ball that dribbled down the third base line, hugging the foul line the whole way, but when third baseman Ty France picked it up after it stopped rolling, the umpire called it fair.
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Both France and Padres manager Craig Stammen argued the call and replays seemed to clearly show the base of the ball was entirely in foul ground. However, the ruling was upheld following a meeting between the umps, and the play was not reviewable.
Miller then allowed two more singles to load the bases, and a force out brought Shaw in. Miller then threw a wild pitch to bring home another run.
By allowing his first two runs of the season, Miller’s ERA ballooned all the way up to 1.26.
“The call is what it is,” Miller told reporters after the game, via ESPN. “I thought I saw something different, but he was a lot closer than I was. And I think everybody in the stadium had an opinion, but ultimately it’s only his that matters, so that’s the cards we were dealt.”
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“Padres win, that’s what matters at the end of the day,”
“It stopped rolling,” France added. “I thought it was foul, but they said otherwise. They said they both had it fair and it’s a non-reviewable play.”
There is debate that, considering the ball is obviously a sphere, a bird’s-eye view would block the white line, meaning it was actually a correctly-called fair ball. However, the MLB rule book states that a fair ball is “a batted ball that settles on fair ground between home and first base, or between home and third base.”
In any case, the streak was the eighth-longest by a reliever since the expansion era began in 1961, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
And as for Miller, he appeared to move on quickly.
“The beauty of it is you get to start another one,” he said.
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