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Nathan Eovaldi, Boston Red Sox take issue with pivotal ball-strike call in loss to Houston Astros

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BOSTON — Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi took two steps toward the dugout when his 1-2 curveball against Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro landed in the glove of catcher Christian Vazquez close to the top-right corner of the strike zone. With two outs already in the ninth inning, Eovaldi momentarily believed he had stranded Astros shortstop Carlos Correa on second base and first baseman Yuli Gurriel on first, but plate umpire Laz Diaz never signaled the punchout that would have left the score tied at 2 heading into the home half of the inning.

Instead, the at-bat continued, with Castro eventually singling to center field, scoring Correa to give Houston a 3-2 lead in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. Soon, the wheels fell off for Boston, which gave up seven runs in Tuesday’s final frame as the Astros won 9-2 to tie the series at two wins apiece and push it to at least a Game 6, which will be back in Houston.

“I thought it was a strike, but again, I’m in the moment. I’m trying to make my pitches,” Eovaldi said after the game. “I’m attacking the zone.”

While Boston took issue with the call, the chance of Eovaldi’s curveball being called a strike was 23%, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

The borderline call characterized an evening marked by complaints about the strike zone. Diaz ended the evening with 23 missed ball-strike calls, according to ESPN Stats & Information, with 12 coming on balls thrown by Red Sox pitchers and 11 from Houston’s hurlers. Diaz’s night behind the plate marked the most missed ball-strike calls of any umpire this postseason.

Castro said that with the velocity and quality of Eovaldi’s arsenal, he was looking for a pitch that wasn’t at the top of the strike zone, where the 1-2 curveball ended up.

“Where that pitch started, I didn’t think it was one I could pull the trigger on,” Castro said. “It was a ball, then I was able to move on to the next pitch.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he had not watched video of Diaz’s call before speaking with the media.

“It’s a tough job,” Cora said. “I know Laz since our days in Miami, you know? He used to cover our games when I played at the University of Miami. Every Friday, he was the man in those games, so it’s a hard job. I understand that. It’s a hard job.”

Cora took stronger exception to a strike three called on designated hitter J.D. Martinez in the third inning on a 94.6 mph fastball thrown by Houston reliever Cristian Javier in a 3-2 count with Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo standing on first. Cora ran out of the dugout to prevent Martinez — who infrequently argues with umpires — from getting ejected before confronting Diaz and needing to be restrained by third-base coach Carlos Febles.

“I’m not going to get thrown out of this game, but we thought that pitch was a strike and he disagreed with us, but that’s a tough job,” Cora said. “I don’t think — yeah, it changes — if it’s a strike, it changes the whole thing, right, but I think we had chances early on.”

Boston went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men on base.

Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta came up short on words when asked about Diaz’s strike zone.

“I’m not going to say anything,” Pivetta said.

Eovaldi said the strike zone had an impact on the game’s outcome.

“There’s going to be those at-bats where I felt like our batters were being very selective up there,” Eovaldi said. “They were having quality at-bats, and a 1-0 count that turns into a 1-1 or a 2-0 count, it changes the at-bat a lot.”

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Avalanche vs. Golden Knights score: Nathan McKinnon shines in Lake Tahoe outdoor showdown

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Saturday’s outdoor game — which ended early on Sunday — between the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights in Lake Tahoe was unlike anything the sport has ever seen before. That’s because there was a nearly nine-hour delay as a result of the sun creating unsafe ice conditions earlier in the day.

The bright sun on the clear day simply caused too many issues throughout the first period. Several players and even a referee lost their footing on slushy ice. After the first period concluded, officials made an attempt to work with the ice and covered sections of it with tarps in an effort to keep the sun off of it. The league ended up making the decision to postpone the game to resume at midnight ET/9 p.m. PT.

As for the action that took place on the ice when it was deemed safe to play on, Avalanche center Nathan McKinnon proved why he’s one of the NHL’s most electrifying stars. MacKinnon registered one goal and a pair of assists in a 3-2 win over the Golden Knights. It marked the team’s second victory over Vegas in the past week.

McKinnon provided easily the most exciting play of the day as he went end-to-end and deposited a goal past the blocker of Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury midway through the second period, which gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead. The score came just minutes after Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez tied the game at 1-1 via a rebound in front of the Colorado net.

With under seven minutes to go in the third period, Devon Toews ripped a shot past Fleury right off the face-off to make it a 3-1 game. However, Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch did cut it to a 3-2 game off of a beautiful spin move in front of Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer to make it interesting, but it was ultimately too little too late.

During the first period, the Avalanche opened the scoring with a goal from defenseman Samuel Girard thanks to a beautiful pass from MacKinnon just 2:58 into the contest.

In an effort to avoid a similar ice situation happening when the Flyers face the Bruins on Sunday, the league pushed the start time of that game from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

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Sports

Exclusive: Nathan MacKinnon injury not believed to be serious

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Not serious. That’s the early word, from a couple of NHL sources, about the injury to Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Hockey Now can report.

This is where I have to insert a “Hey, it’s not official yet, something could change”, but based on my experience with the people I’m hearing it from, I believe the story will be proven correct in the final analysis.

MacKinnon suffered a mysterious lower-body injury in last night’s game with the Minnesota Wild, and there has been no information from the team since. MacKinnon entered last night’s game as the Avs’ leading scorer. He’s a two-time runner-up for the NHL’s Hart Trophy and the reigning Lady Byng winner.

We’ll get more official word from the Avalanche tomorrow on things, as the team had the day off from all hockey activities today. But for now, it appears as if the Avs dodged a bullet with regard to the MacKinnon injury.

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