SAN FRANCISCO — There it was, for the first time in Major League Baseball history, the outcome of a ball-strike call deciding by a machine.
It happened in the fourth inning Wednesday night in the New York Yankees-San Francisco Giants season-opener at Oracle Park, with the sellout crowd staring at the scoreboard, awaiting the outcome.
Yankees shortstop José Caballero challenged a strike call on a pitch from Logan Webb and lost his appeal – with MLB's new ABS system confirming the umpire's initial call.
It was the first regular-season game players were allowed to challenge the ball and strike calls from the home plate umpire, in this case, veteran umpire and crew chief Bill Miller.
Each team was permitted two challenges to start the game, with only the pitcher, catcher and hitter allowed to challenge.. The umpire acknowledges the challenge and the pitch is be replayed in on the stadium scoreboard and TV broadcast. If a team wins the challenge, it gets another, but two wrong challenges and the team is done for the game.
