Pete Alonso only received credit for one of two home runs he appeared to hit Wednesday night. After depositing his 29th blast of the season, Alonso looked to deliver another homer to break a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning. The ball was deemed foul, and a replay upheld the questionable call.
Instead of enjoying a signature moment in a crucial game, Alonso's Baltimore Orioles went on to lose 5-3 to the New York Yankees. Even Yankees broadcasters Michael Kay and David Cone were surprised the call wasn't overturned. After the game, Alonso told reporters that he believes the replay center got it wrong.
"Looking at the video, the view from where the camera was pointing straight down the line, from what it looked like, it was to the right of the yellow and the pole," Alonso said, via MLB.com's Jake Rill. "So I thought it was fair." Alonso relayed the explanation he received about why the call wasn't overturned. "What I was told is in order to overturn a call, you need to have two camera angles to confirm it," Alonso said.
"But the best view, the only view that shows the ball fair or foul is the one down the line, but no other camera angle is available. So video room rules it foul, umpire obviously called it foul initially. It is what it is." The All-Star slugger suggested that MLB can eliminate this issue by installing tracking data on the foul pole.
"I think a simple fix is like football, you have the pylon camera with the plane, where it shoots right across the goal line," Alonso said. "And I feel like, for us, we could easily have a laser or a camera that shoots straight up." Orioles manager Craig Albernaz was "really surprised" to see the call upheld after tracking data on their dugout iPads indicated the ball was fair. He wondered why that technology isn't utilized on challenges.
Chris Bassitt, who started Wednesday's game for Baltimore, also called for reform. "That we don't have the technology in place to actually say, 'Hey, this was fair or foul,' is literally crazy in 2026," Bassitt said, per The .
Extract — continue reading at the source.
