Umpire's brutal strike zone helped Red Sox stave off sweep, angered John Schneider

The Boston Red Sox managed a win against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 10 to kill a potential four-game sweep at Fenway Park.

Neither side played particularly well in Boston's 4-3 extra-innings win, nor in the rest of the freezing-cold series. Boston and Toronto posted eight hits and two errors apiece in the final game, but the latter's gaffes were particularly costly. In the eighth inning, Rob Refsnyder reached on a fielding error and later scored on a wild pitch, which was followed by a throwing error to tie the game at two and set up a rally for the Sox.

The ugliest performance of the night came from behind the plate, though. Umpire Manny Gonzalez's strike zone was huge and inconsistent, resulting in 14 missed calls, per Umpire Auditor on Twitter. Twelve of his misses favored the Red Sox. Umpire Scorecards reports that the misses resulted in two extra runs for Boston.

At one point, NESN commentators Dave O'Brien and Will Middlebrooks suggested that Gonzalez was calling balls and strikes based on hitter's movements rather than seeing the strike zone. Triston Casas backed away from a strike in the top left corner of the zone, and the pitch was called in his favor.

Umpire Manny Gonzalez's calls on April 10 favored Red Sox, angered Blue Jays manager John Schneider

Blue Jays manager John Schneider saw the discrepancy in Gonzalez's calls. He addressed the umpiring in his postgame press conference.

“It’s tough to battle nine hitters and an umpire. I’ve got all the respect in the world for them, but it wasn’t a great day for him behind the plate,” the skipper said, according to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.

The Red Sox were the beneficiaries of 12 of 14 of Gonzalez's missed calls, but they still fanned 10 times in the extra-innings bout with the Jays. Toronto's pitching has made quick work of Boston's bats — Sox hitters struck out 40 times in their four-game series.

MLB tested its automated ball-strike (ABS) system in some spring training games this year, and fans and reporters assume it will reach MLB sometime within the next few seasons. The Red Sox are lucky the system isn't already in place, as a fair few of Gonzalez's challenge-worthy calls would've been taken back out of their favor.

The Red Sox still won, though, and they enter their first series of the year against the White Sox on a high note. Chicago posted the worst record in MLB history last season (41-121) and it's 2-10 this year on an eight-game losing streak. Hopefully, Boston can rebound against the struggling Pale Hose, even with better umpiring.

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