Gary Cohen could not believe the call.
The famous Mets play-by-play announcer had already declared the infamous pitch that dramatically swung Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Phillies a strike when he learned the umpires somehow ruled it a ball.
And Cohen let the umpires have it for blowing such an important ruling, with the snowball effect leading to the Phillies tying the game at 4-all one batter later, when Diaz plunked Alec Bohm with the bases loaded.
“(The) 3-1 and a half-swing, it’s a called strike on a slider — no, they say he didn’t swing…,” Cohen said of Edwin Diaz’s ninth-inning pitch to Whit Merrifield that resulted in a walk to load the bases.
Ron Darling interjected: “Wow.”
Cohen then resumed his call: “And it was not a strike. And that’s ball four. You got to be kidding me.”
It certainly seemed Merrfield swung at the 3-1 pitch with men on first and second with two outs, but home plate umpire Gabe Morales asked first base umpire Ryan Additon for help and Additon ruled no swing.
“The ball was outside,” Keith Hernandez said of the pitch.
Cohen replied: “Yeah, but he swung.”
“I understand that,” Hernandez said.
Cohen continued: “First base umpire Ryan Additon said no swing and Carlos Mendoza is beside himself and now the bases are loaded for Alec Bohm.”
SNY then showed another view of the controversial non-swing.
“Oh, come on,” Darling said.
Diaz then hit Bohm with an 0-2 pitch to tie the game and blow his second save of the season. Diaz allowed two runs after entering with a 4-2 lead.
The Phillies then scored the ghost runner in the 10th, while the Mets went down feebly.
While it shouldn’t be assumed the Mets win the game if the correct call had been made, perhaps the game never gets to Bohm if Diaz gets to a 3-2 count against Merrifield.
Merrifield, after an 0-for-4 night Monday, is hitting .197 with a .581 OPS this season.