From game-ending challenges to accidental challenges and everything in between, we’ve seen quite a showing of the unique ways the Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge System can be used in a game. And yet, the Cubs and Dodgers gave us a new one on Sunday.
Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner and Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing BOTH tried to challenge a 3-1 pitch during the second inning of the Dodgers’ 6-0 win.
You can understand each player's perspective here, as it was perhaps the biggest moment in the early going of the rubber game. The Dodgers led 3-0, but Los Angeles lefty Justin Wrobleski allowed a double then walked two batters to load the bases with one out.
Even if the pitch ended up as a ball, Rushing wouldn’t want a close call to lead to Chicago’s first run of the day. He presented the pitch for an extra second then frequently tapped his head, showing confidence that the ball clipped the strike zone.
On the other side, Hoerner -- despite being one of the game’s hottest hitters -- would absolutely take a walk to score his team’s first run in more than five innings of weekend play. He had already taken off down the first-base line when he turned around and tapped his helmet.
The problem? Home-plate umpire Malachi Moore called the pitch a strike. Rushing just didn’t hear him. Thus, officially, the challenge went on Hoerner’s ledger. He lost the appeal, with the ABS system determining that Wrobleski’s 3-1 caught the zone by half an inch.
It was a massive sequence of events, as Hoerner went on to strike out, and an Alex Bregman ground out in the ensuing at-bat kept Wrobleski and the Dodgers unscathed.
We probably won’t see something like that too often. Dodgers play-by-play man Joe Davis put it best:
“The ultimate ABS strike."