The pitch clock has struck the New York Mets in a weird way we didn’t see much, if at all, in Spring Training.
With two on and two outs in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game in Miami, Jeff McNeil fouled a ball of for an 0-1 count…which then became 0-2, as home plate umpire Larry Vanover called an automatic strike because Pete Alonso took too much time getting back to first base:
Manager Buck Showalter came out to argue and both McNeil and Alonso were incredulous by the call, but the 2022 NL batting champ got the last laugh: on a 1-2 count he bounced a single up the middle, making it 3-0 Mets and sending 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara packing from the game.
Per the new rules with the pitch clock, umpires are supposed to wait for defensive players and baserunners to be set after foul balls to begin the clock, but are also empowered to prevent runners taking excess time.
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