A called strike three that appeared low ended the Dominican Republic’s WBC run, a moment soaked in irony as MLB’s robot umpires arrive in one week.
MIAMI — With the potential tying run on third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dominican shortstop Geraldo Perdomo dug in against U.S. reliever Mason Miller with the count full. The next pitch, a slider, appeared to dive below the strike zone. Perdomo took a step toward the dugout, believing he had drawn a walk. Instead, home plate umpire Cory Blaser’s emphatic strike-three gesture sent shockwaves through the stadium, ending the game and the Dominican Republic’s WBC tournament with a 2-1 loss to the United States.
The call was immediately controversial. Perdomo, still holding his bat, arched it overhead in disbelief. “He knew he was wrong,” Perdomo said afterward. “I knew it was 100% wrong.” The pitch, as shown on replay, clearly missed the zone low.
What makes this moment historically knotty is its timing: Major League Baseball’s Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System (ABS) is scheduled to debut on March 25, just seven days later. Under ABS, teams would be allowed to challenge certain ball-strike calls, and the Dominicans would have had an opportunity to overturn the decision had they retained a challenge. “It looked a little down,” U.S. outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong conceded. “Yes, I’m glad we had no ABS. I’m happy that the human element was in full effect.” The system’s implementation follows a September announcement by Major League Baseball, as reported by the Associated Press.
Miller’s dominant relief performance made the call possible. The hard-throwing reliever threw 13 of his 22 pitches at 100 mph or higher, generated swing-and-miss with his slider, and stranded the potential tying run. He allowed a one-out walk to Julio Rodríguez, who advanced to third on a wild pitch and Oneil Cruz’s groundout, setting the stage for Perdomo’s fatal at-bat.
The United States’ victory propels them into the WBC championship game, where they will face either Venezuela or Italy. For the Dominican Republic, a nation where baseball is a national passion and a team featuring Major League stars like Geraldo Perdomo and Julio Rodríguez, the exit is a crushing blow that will reverberate back home. The final score, 2-1, was confirmed by the Associated Press.
This pivotal moment arrives as baseball stands at a crossroads between tradition and technology. The ABS system, tested in the minors since 2019, will use a tracking system to determine ball-strike calls with millimeter precision. While human umpires will still make the initial call, teams can challenge, and the automated ruling will be displayed on the scoreboard. The WBC, however, does not currently employ ABS. The tournament has used traditional umpiring crews throughout its history. But after this incident, pressure will mount to adopt the challenge system for future Classics, especially given the stakes of an international tournament that crowns a world champion.
For now, the Dominicans are left to ponder what might have been. With ABS on the horizon, this game becomes a case study in how a single pitch—and a single call—can define a nation’s baseball summer. The irony is palpable: as MLB prepares to welcome robot umps, the WBC’s most dramatic finish was delivered by a human whose call will be remembered long after the technology arrives.
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