CINCINNATI — Baseball’s new automated ball-strike challenge system worked overtime on Saturday with CB Bucknor behind the plate for the Red Sox-Reds game.
By the time it was over, six of Bucknor’s calls had been overturned, Sox manager Alex Cora was stewing in the clubhouse after being ejected, and the Reds had a drama-filled 6-5 victory in 11 innings.
Two games down and 160 to go. It really is a whole new ballgame.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Sox reliever Danny Coulombe, who is in his 12th season.
The bottom of the sixth inning was an embarrassing one for Bucknor, a major league umpire since 1999.
Ryan Watson, a 28-year-old righthander making his major league debut for the Red Sox, threw a sinker that Eugenio Suárez took for a called third strike by Bucknor to end the inning.
Not so fast.
Suárez appealed and ABS showed the pitch was low. Watson, who had started to walk off the mound, got back on the rubber and threw a fastball that Suárez took. Bucknor called it strike again and again Suárez tapped his helmet to challenge.
ABS showed that pitch was outside by 1.1 inches and the call was overturned. The crowd of 38,298 cheered even more loudly.
“That’s probably the loudest I’ve heard a stadium while pitching,” Watson said.
Watson came back with a sinker that Suárez grounded to second and the Sox finally ended the inning.
Watson played at Auburn and signed with Baltimore as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He pitched 157 minor league games over five years with the Giants and Orioles before finally reaching the highest level.
With his parents, brother, girlfriend and others in the crowd, Watson overcame the overturned calls and went on to pitch 2⅓ scoreless innings.
“Yeah, that interesting. It’s one I’ll never forget for sure,” Watson said.
Cora was impressed with Watson’s poise.
“He showed a lot,” the manager said. “The count continues. You have to re-set and keep making pitches … After that he was amazing.”
He was far less impressed with Bucknor.
“That wasn’t his best day,” Cora said. “That’s what the system does. It’s out there; everybody sees it.”
Bucknor wasn’t done.
With the Sox down by a run in the eighth inning, Bucknor called out Trevor Story on a check-swing third strike. It was a close call but Bucknor did not ask for help from first base umpire Dan Iassogna.
Story, who is rarely confrontational, was livid and tried to get at Bucknor. Cora and first base coach José David Flores held him back before Cora was ejected.
“Obviously disagreed with the call real strongly and think a lot of people did, too,” Story said. “I don’t have anything really good to say about the situation … didn’t think I swung.”
Baseball is testing a check-swing challenge system in the minors that uses the ABS high-speed cameras to determine if a swing crosses the 45-degree threshold. That didn’t help Story on Saturday.
And it hurt Bucknor. Umpires have been judged by replays and pitch-tracking software for years. But ABS makes it official with the review on the scoreboard for all to see.
The Sox and Reds challenged eight of Bucknor’s calls in all, and only two were upheld.
The Sox had their own self-induced issues with ABS.
Catcher Carlos Narváez challenged a pitch in the second inning that was called a ball by Bucknor. ABS showed it was below the strike zone by 0.1 inches and the Sox one of their challenges.
In the third inning, Roman Anthony successfully challenged a called strike. He also challenged the next pitch on a 3-1 count but it was ruled a correct call by Bucknor and the Sox were out of challenges until the 10th inning.
“It was not a good time to challenge,” Anthony said. “It’s a lesson … Stupid on my end. It won’t happen again.”
Cora and the coaches have impressed on the players that it’s important to have at least one challenge late in the game when the stakes are higher. That’s especially true with an erratic umpire behind the plate.
It’s a conversation that will be had again.
“We learned a lot today,” Cora said.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.