John Bacon was behind home plate for Sunday's game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees. Long before Bacon ejected Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, which kicked off an epic meltdown, the home plate umpire left Mets star Juan Soto absolutely perplexed by a late strike call.
Facing Max Fried and an 0-1 count, Soto took a pitch that looked both low and outside. As Soto turned, proud of himself for not chasing, Bacon called a strike and the immediate change on Soto's face was priceless.
Complete shock.
Soto took one more pitch before he struck out swinging on a 1-2 count. He finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as the Mets lost, 6-4. It was the only game the Mets lost during the three-game series.
Soto has turned in a surprisingly solid season considering he was inspiring sports radio rants before April was over. He is currently 10th in OPS, has 21 home runs and leads baseball with 72 walks. With an eye like that, you know he could tell that pitch wasn't a strike. Or if a teammate didn't go around on a check swing.
