Reese McGuire appeared to be the spark the Red Sox needed Wednesday, but replay review came in and spoiled the catcher’s moment.
Boston lost to the Pirates at Fenway Park and was swept by Pittsburgh. The Red Sox were down 4-1 heading into the seventh inning, and Triston Casas sparked a potential rally with a two-out double. Christian Arroyo then put Boston within three with an RBI single before Raimel Tapia got on base to bring the tying run to the plate.
McGuire came on as a pinch hitter and crushed a Mitch Keller pitch to right field toward Pesky Pole. The game looked to be tied, until the umpires overruled the call to a foul, and upon replay review, the call stood. The veteran catcher struck out to end the inning.
“… Off the bat, I thought I clipped it, kept it true and was going to stay fair,” McGuire told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I didn’t even go into the dugout because I was already telling myself, ‘Just be prepared if they don’t call this a home run.’ I was actually in a good place mentally, but he threw his hardest fastball of the night. I fouled off, but other than that, I felt really comfortable about it. I thought that fastball was gonna be down. But it looked like it just got the bottom of the strike zone. I was still ready to go.”
McGuire added: “I believe it was probably foul if they came together and all that.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora also agreed with McGuire and did not have a problem with the umpires calling the potential home run a foul, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.
The dinger would have been the catcher’s first of the season, but he could get another chance Thursday when the Red Sox move on to take on the Detroit Tigers.
