In the bottom of the eighth, the Giants had a one-run lead when manager Bob Melvin tried to bring in a lefty to face a left-handed hitter. He signaled for a pitcher, but the umpires thought he called for the righty. Chaos followed. The lefty walked out, then was told to go back. The righty wasn’t even warming up. Melvin confirmed he meant the righty, but the Marlins manager, Skip Schumaker, was furious. He wanted the pitch clock to start immediately, but confusion over which reliever was supposed to be used ended up buying the Giants extra time.
Skip argued hard with umpire Laz Diaz, claiming the clock hadn’t started on time and that the proper reliever had too much warm-up time. He pushed for a clock violation, which would have resulted in a ball added to the count, but Laz didn’t give it. Instead, Laz told him to calm down and said he’d handle it. The clock eventually started nearly 30 seconds late, after lots of yelling and miscommunication. When the reliever finally threw his first pitch, it was a 99 mph fastball on the corner. The Marlins were still trying to get a ball added to the count, but the umps said no. Skip went back out to argue again, claiming the Giants had skirted the rules.
Despite the drama, the righty reliever got the out to end the inning. A blown signal, delayed warm-ups, and a shaky interpretation of the rules gave the Giants a break. Skip didn’t get the ruling he wanted, and the umpires leaned on the fact that the wrong pitcher hadn’t been officially inserted into the game. It was a weird back-and-forth, with timing rules, communication failures, and a lot of shouting between the dugout and home plate.