VIDEO: Umpire Rob Drake Awards Cody Bellinger With Ball 3 on Perfect Pitch From Eric Lauer
By Daniel Marcillo
Chalk another one up in favor of the robot umpires after this call from home plate umpire Rob Drake. Eric Lauer drops what everyone in the ballpark could have told us is a strike. Even Cody Bellinger paused his routine for a second when he did not hear Drake call the curveball a strike.
I've watched literally thousands of bad calls this season while making videos and I think this is the worst called ball.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) August 27, 2019
Umpire Rob Drake inexplicably calls a ball on pitch that's right down the middle. Tough break @e_lauer10. #Dodgers v #Padres pic.twitter.com/SOThDBWsIW
Usually an umpire can blame the pitcher for missing his location across the plate on missed calls like these. On this one Lauer literally threw a hanging curve down the middle, so we do not know how Drake missed this one.
Bellinger has not needed too much help this season to put up MVP level numbers, but he will gladly take the extra ball. Thankfully for the Padres it only resulted in a walk for Bellinger.