Talk to just about any credible pitching coach and he or she will always tell you that when a time out is called in the midst of your delivery, you should just go ahead and throw the pitch. Pitching is an inherently dangerous pursuit, and pitchers are not accustomed to abruptly halting in the middle of their throwing motion, so it’s undoubtedly less risky to proceed as planned instead of trying to stop altogether.
So when Giants batter Kevin Pillar motioned for time in a game against the Padres on Wednesday, San Diego pitcher Luis Perdomo followed through and lightly lobbed the ball in the general direction of home plate. But the umpire did not grant Pillar a time out, and Perdomo’s extremely slow offering skipped off Pillar’s front foot. If MLB operated under the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law, there’s no way Pillar should’ve gotten a free pass here:
There is no honor in sports. Umpire Jeff Nelson awarded Pillar first base. Two batters later, he came around to score the tying run in the Giants’ eventual 7-5 victory.
(Thanks to r/baseball for calling our attention to this video).
