Kevin Plawecki, understandably, had a gripe with home plate umpire Adam Beck’s strike three call that wasn’t a strike in the Boston Red Sox’s 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.
But he still doesn’t want the strike zone to be controlled by a robot.
Plawecki was at the plate with the bases loaded in a 3-3 game in the top of the sixth inning when he was rung up on what should have been ball four to walk in a run. The Red Sox catcher tossed his helmet to the ground and was ejected before manager Alex Cora came out of the dugout and earned himself an early shower, too.
Cora was rational when speaking to reporters after the loss at Truist Park, but Plawecki was a bit more heated.
“Just a terrible call,” he told reporters, per MassLive. “… Yeah, nobody thought it was a strike, even on the other side. Just watching the replay even, it was kind of a late call. Whatever. It’s just frustrating. It adds to the frustration of the grind we’re on right now. What can you do? Turn the page and we move on.”
Wednesday’s loss marked the fifth time this season the Red Sox have been walked off. While the call certainly cost Boston a run, it likely didn’t cost it the game at the end of the day.
Still, when calls like Beck’s are that egregious, it makes fans quickly call for robo umps. Not Plawecki, though.
“I don’t want an electronic strike zone,” Plawecki told reporters, per The Boston Globe. “There’s an art to it. Am I mad about the call tonight? Sure. But that doesn’t change my mind.”
The Red Sox are off Thursday before opening up a weekend series on the road against the Texas Rangers beginning Friday.
