Diamondbacks’ Marte Misses Chance to Challenge Crucial Strike Call in Loss to Cardinals

The Arizona Diamondbacks fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Friday night in a contest marked by a pivotal missed opportunity to challenge an umpire’s decision. With the game on the line, three-time All-Star Ketel Marte did not invoke the Automated Ball/Strike system after being called out on strikes by umpire Bill Miller, despite video evidence suggesting the pitch was outside the zone.

The pitch in question came from Cardinals reliever Riley O’Brien and reached speeds of 100 mph. Replay footage indicated the sinker traveled high and beyond the boundaries of a legal strike, yet Marte took the called third strike for the final out of the contest. The Diamondbacks possessed two unused ABS challenges at the moment of the disputed call.

“I was looking for a breaking ball,” Marte explained through an interpreter. “Got the two-seamer and I was a little bit surprised.”

Manager Torey Lovullo indicated he had not yet discussed the decision with Marte but planned to address the situation the following day. The veteran infielder had already struggled earlier in the game, committing a fielding error in the first inning that resulted in two unearned runs.

“Clearly — I don’t want to speak for Ketel — you guys will have a chance to talk to him, but he thought it was a strike,” Lovullo said. “Sometimes you’ve got to trust your own instincts. Possibly thought it was a good pitch, checked off of it and lost the ability to challenge as soon as he stepped across home plate.”

The defeat halted a four-game winning streak for Arizona and resulted from multiple defensive lapses. Pinch runner Jorge Barrosa was picked off in the ninth inning following a leadoff walk by Nolan Arenado, another critical moment that hindered the team’s comeback efforts.

Lovullo declined to place sole blame on Marte for the loss, pointing instead to a broader pattern of mistakes throughout the evening. “We’re not perfect, it’s frustrating of course, but there are 15 other things that happened in this game that are still eating at me right now and we’ll address them one by one,” the manager said.