‘Is this the big leagues?’ Padres-Giants game delayed because of a missing left fielder
Pitch-clock violations seemed pretty straight forward before Tuesday night.
If a batter wasn’t ready in time, the umpire called a strike.
If a pitcher didn’t pitch in time, the umpire called a ball.
But what if a left fielder was nowhere to be found at the start of the inning? We ran into that odd scenario during the Giants’ 4-3 win over the Padres in San Francisco on Tuesday.
The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning when Mike Yastrzemski stepped to the plate. But the Padres’ Nick Martinez didn’t pitch because left fielder Juan Soto was nowhere to be found.
“We don’t have a left fielder,” a Giants broadcaster said. “Is this the big leagues?”
The other announcer said: “This has to be a pitch-clock violation.”
But it wasn’t.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler argued with an umpire that a ball should have been called for a pitch-clock violation, but it didn’t happen.
Here is the scene from the game and Soto’s eventual return to left field.
Many of the responses to that tweet noted, well, that nature called and that’s probably why Soto was a tad late in taking his position in left field.
