After a commanding 8-2 win in Game 1, the New York Yankees were back against the Athletics on Saturday to keep their five-game winning run going. But a controversial ABS moment at the bottom of the fourth changed the mood of the game.

With the A's already leading 2- 1, Yankees starter Ryan Weathers threw a 2-0 slider to Tyler Soderstrom that was first called a strike. Soderstrom tapped his helmet to challenge the call.

The replay shown on MLB.com later said the pitch was 0.8 inches low and should have been a ball. But after a short delay, umpire Adam Beck inexplicably announced the pitch was a strike.

Soderstrom was in complete disbelief. So were the announcers.

One announcer could not believe what he was seeing. He said, “Whoa! Whoa! No, that can’t be right,” while his partner added, “Yeah, that wasn’t a strike.”

Though Soderstrom eventually walked after four more pitches, the A’s lost the challenge.

The inning ended shortly after when Henry Bolte, Zack Gelof, and Darell Hernáiz struck out with Soderstrom on the basepaths.

Tyler Soderstrom launched a solo home run to make the score 3-1 in his next at-bat in the bottom of sixth. And in the seventh inning, Nick Kurtz drove his 10th home run of the season over the center-field wall, to extend the lead 5-1. It threw Weathers out of the game with his season high of 107 pitches.

Fans Angered; A's Manager Says it Was an ABS Glitch

The ruling in the 4th inning immediately garnered some reaction from the fans.

"Clear as day it's a ball w** is wrong with these umpires?" one fan said.

Another viewer pointed out the broadcast error, writing, "The worst part about that is that they didn't even show the replay. The ABS review never came up on the promoter, and nobody actually saw the replay."

One fan highlighted the bigger umpiring issue on hand, writing, "System is already broken if umps can override the ABS, or deny an ABS review at their whim.."

For another, it looked like the start of a worrying trend. They wrote, "This is gonna be the new loophole hey?"

"That’s corruption," another simply added.

The viewers' outrage was seemingly justified. An Associated Press report later confirmed the technological failure, detailing the glitch.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay said (via AP), "The explanation on the field was the umpires were told from the communication upstairs, the controller of the ABS, that the call was confirmed."

Kotsay did not hide his frustration after the game. He said the dugout later checked the replay on the iPad, which is standard, and saw that the pitch should have been a ball.

"Obviously, they don't have access to the iPad," Kotsay added. "They only have access to the information they're being told through their earpiece. That's something we need clarified through the league, and we will have that conversation with the league."

Adam Beck was the home plate umpire of the game. The others on the crew were Jen Pawol(1B), Jeremie Rehak(2B), and Dan Iassogna(3B).

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Written by

Md Saife Fida

Edited by

Yask Kotak