Rangers starterNathan Eovaldi feels good in bullpen 2 days after tightness that scratched start
Rangers' Eovaldi feels good after bullpen session following tightness
The Tigers faced three controversial ball-strike calls during their 10-2 loss to the Mets, but none were challenged. Starting pitcher Jack Flaherty was notably affected by these calls in the second inning.
New York â Three borderline ball-strike calls went against the Tigers and starting pitcher Jack Flaherty Tuesday night. And none were challenged.
It became part of the post-game discussion after the 10-2 loss to the Mets.
Two came in the same second inning at-bat with Metsâ MJ Melendez, the last was on a 3-2 pitch. Flaherty threw a pitch that landed in the strike zone box but was called a ball.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 12: Jack Flaherty #9 of the Detroit Tigers pitches in the second inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field on May 12, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Bernstein/Getty Images)
It was the difference between a strikeout to start the inning or a walk. A similar thing happened in the third inning. Flaherty threw a strike on a 2-2 pitch to leadoff hitter Bo Bichette that was called a ball.
Bichette singled on the next pitch.
âYou can say good take,â Flaherty said after the game. âThey were called balls and we shouldâve taken advantage of the system we have in place.â
So why didnât Flaherty or catcher Dillon Dingler challenge those calls? Dingler, who is 20-5 on challenges behind the plate, lost one earlier in the Melendez at-bat. The Tigers had just one challenge and eight innings left to play.
âIt always makes you a little gun shy when you lose one early,â Dingler said. âI donât know why I felt the need to do it that early, to be honest. But you try to minimize those because it makes everybody gun shy once you burn one.â
The Tigers did not challenge the controversial ball-strike calls during the game, which became a topic of discussion post-game.
Key moments included three borderline ball-strike calls against the Tigers, particularly during a second-inning at-bat involving MJ Melendez.
Jack Flaherty was the starting pitcher for the Tigers during their game against the Mets.
The final score of the game was 10-2 in favor of the Mets.
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Some pitches are also tougher for catchers to make borderline judgments on. Remember, thereâs no strike zone box for the pitchers and catchers. They are playing in real time and the truth is, Dingler didnât get a clean look at the two pitches to Melendez.
âThose pitches I had to catch going back across my body,â Dingler said. âWhere I donât have a good idea of where it crosses (the plate). Those two that were strikes, one went up and in to down and away. The other went up and in to down and in. I canât see that.
âIf I had a better view, I wouldâve challenged.â
Again, Dingler is among the best at making accurate challenges. Heâs also so good at framing pitches that he can trick hitters into not challenging. The baseball data base Codify two days ago had the Tigers ranked fifth in baseball with 110 pitches that were outside the strike zone but called strikes and not challenged by the hitting team.
âI trust what (Dingler) does back there,â Flaherty said. âWhat he sees and what he feels, I trust him. Heâs been really good with it all year. If I donât see an immediate reaction from him on a pitch, I trust him. ... I can't really tell sometimes. Our catchers are so good, they fool me.â
Manager AJ Hinch was asked if he thought his team, hitters and catchers, were being aggressive enough with the ABS challenge system.
âThe question is the confidence in and around the strike zone,â he said. âWhen you look back at plays, itâs always easy to say you shouldâve used them. Or if you have some left at the end of the game, oh, you shouldâve tried. Thatâs not how the system is set up to judge yourself.â
Hinch said he believes his team has become more confident with understanding where the strike zone is and the right moments to use a challenge.
âBut as I say, there is no box like there is on TV,â he said. âThere are pitches where you might flinch and donât see it as well as you thought you did at the time. You look back and you question yourself. But youâd rather be safe than just waste a challenge.â
Dingler and Jake Rogers combined are 25-6 on reversing calls. That 81% success rate is the best in baseball. Theyâve got five strikeouts on reversed calls. But those 31 challenges are the fourth lowest in baseball.
Does the success rate go down if the challenge rate goes up?
âYou just donât want to miss the egregious ones and weâve missed a few of those,â Hinch said. âBut weâve also got some borderline ones that were one-tenth off. The art of the ABS is to reward the teams that know the strike zone the best.â
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers explain no challenges to pivotal pitches against Mets