Pirates' Bubba Chandler managed to get lucky on accidental ABS challenge
This isn't one you see everyday.
Pirates' Bubba Chandler managed to get lucky on accidental ABS challenge originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Before this season, this wasn't even a possibility.
But on Sunday, Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler accidentally challenged a ball call. And then he got his challenge right. The pitch was overturned for a strike.
The Pirates were taking on the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and Chandler threw a pitch that was determined to have just missed. As the ball was thrown back to Chandler, he used his right hand to adjust his hat on his head. The umpire saw it and recognized it to be the double tap that signals an ABS challenge.
So it went to review as Chandler threw his arms in the air as if to say, wait, that wasn't the gesture. He wasn't as mad moments later when the pitch proved to have been in the strike zone: Well... this is a new one!