Yordan Alvarez struck out...and no one knew it.
Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros is a remote-drop kind of player. If you're flicking through the channels and you come across a baseball game, and the hulking Astros lefty is at the plate, you stop. That's what happens when you're a 6'5", 225-lb slugger with 30 jacks this season and a career .979 OPS. People stop to watch you.
But APPARENTLY, some people don't actually PAY ATTENTION to the finer details of what they're watching, i.e. how many strikes there are.
Count is now 1-and-3
Alvarez led off the bottom of the 3rd inning yesterday against left-handed Red Sox starter Rich Hill. This is how his at-bat went:
1st pitch: Curveball, Ball 1. Count is 1-0
2nd pitch: Curveball, Strike Looking, Count is 1-1
3rd pitch: Slider, Foul Ball, Count is 1-2
4th pitch: Changeup, Strike Looking, COUNT IS 1-3
5th pitch: Slider, Groundout to 1B (3-1)
Everyone Just...Didn't Notice
No one batted an eyelid. Not one person. Yordan Alvarez did not so much as flinch towards the dugout as the 3rd strike was called. Rich Hill acted normally. So did Red Sox manager Alex Cora and every member of his coaching staff, and the players on the bench. Catcher Reese McGuire acted like it was the second strike as well. The players in the field followed suit. Shit, the announcers, paid to watch and analyze the game, didn't notice that the immutable laws of baseball had been broken before their very eyes.
So that's nine Red Sox players in the field, a handful on the bench, the Red Sox manager and his coaching staff, an Astros hitter, and the broadcast crew. About 25-30 people (who's to say if some other Astros players/coaches noticed and kept their mouths shut. Wouldn't you?). It was a simultaneous gaffe committed by some of baseball's greatest talents and minds.
There is simply no explanation for this. But it's funny as hell.