Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer was one strike away from a perfect game on Saturday but had to settle for the no-hitter because of this hit-by-pitch on Pittsburgh's Jose Tabata.
You'll hear "he leaned into it" and that "it was a bush-league move." This thing will be falsely overanalyzed to death.
I saw it differently, and as much as I wanted to see Scherzer be perfect, the HBP was perfectly legit.
Watch it again. The pitch is a slider and catcher Wilson Ramos is set up away to receive it. The pitch ends up almost backing up, doing nothing. We call that a cement mixer. Just a spinning breaking ball with no break.
Watching Tabata's left elbow you see it go out, toward home plate as he starts to move with the pitch being delivered. He sees the slider spin but is as surprised as any hitter would be that the pitch is in and staying in. It's not breaking away towards its intended target.
You're taught to turn in towards a ball that is in and might hit you, that is exactly what Tabata did. He flinches first, closes up and turns in, the left elbow changes direction and gets closer to his body and down. It hits him.
It was a natural reaction. Let's not overanalyze. Let's not bury Tabata or call for a change in the rules. This happens often in baseball. Tabata is not in it to watch Scherzer throw a perfect game, but he's also not trying to get hit by a pitch to break up a perfect game.
It was an errant pitch, one that got away from Scherzer. One that cost him the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball. It happens in baseball, the timing was just unlucky.
