The Boston Red Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in extra innings on Saturday, and a controversial check swing call on Trevor Story played a role.
In the eighth inning, Story came up to hit with two outs and runners on first and second with the Red Sox trailing by one run. He tried to check his swing on a 0-2 pitch, but home plate CB Bucknor ruled that he swung without asking the first base umpire for clarification. Story immediately started yelling at Bucknor about how bad the call was.
On the replay, it looked like Story did check his swing, and that the at-bat should have continued. Amid Story’s outburst, Alex Cora came out and got himself ejected, trying to protect Story from getting tossed. Story spoke on the call after the game.
“I obviously disagree with the call, real strongly. I think a lot of people did too. I told him my piece. What we said was what we said out there, and I don’t have anything really good to say about the situation, so I’m not going to say anything else.”
Story noted that he did not feel like he swung, and that he was upset Bucknor did not check with the first base umpire on the call. When asked about what reasoning Bucknor gave him for not appealing, Story did not want to share.
“He did,” Story said if Bucknor explained the decision to not appeal. “Like I said, I’m going to keep our conversation between us, and I still very confident about my opinion.”
It’s worth noting that Story never gets heated as he did on Saturday. There’s no saying how that at-bat would have ended, but the call kept the Red Sox from potentially tying the game up in the eighth.
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