Jesús Luzardo had a rough first inning, and most of it wasn’t his fault. Facing Juan Soto, the at-bat spiraled into chaos thanks to a missed strike call, a bizarre late timeout, and confusion over the pitch clock rule. Soto asked for time mid-windup. The rookie umpire hesitated, then granted it too late, causing Luzardo to deliver a pitch that shouldn’t have happened. That should have been a strike due to a pitch clock violation, but wasn’t. Then late in the count, two more borderline pitches registered as strikes by tracking systems weren’t called. Soto walked, despite at least two pitches being strike-three candidates.
It snowballed from there. Luzardo had to throw extra pitches and his frustration grew. In the fifth, with the game on the line, he expected a few close calls to go his way. They didn’t, and although the calls were technically correct, Luzardo felt the earlier misses cost him. After a missed third strike to Starling Marte, he was pulled. Walking off, he let the umpire have it, yelling “Wake the [expletive] up. This isn’t the minor leagues.” The ump just shook his head, clearly rattled from the whole ordeal and probably knowing he’d lost control early in the game. It wasn’t just one call — it was a series of decisions that put Luzardo on edge and shortened his outing.