Ryan McMahon drew a bases-loaded walk after Nationals pitcher Kyle Finnegan violated the pitch clock on a full count, allowing the Colorado Rockies to score two runs in the ninth inning and win 8-7 against the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.
This marked the first time in MLB history that a game was decided by a pitch-clock violation. Finnegan, who leads the league with nine pitch-clock violations this season, expressed regret over the incident: “I thought I picked up the clock.
I guess by the time I picked up and looked at the catcher and delivered the pitch, I was just a hair too late. In those situations, it just can’t happen. We deserved to win and I wasn’t able to do my job.”
In the ninth inning, Colorado started with four consecutive singles off Finnegan, with Hunter Goodman, Jake Cave, and Brenton Doyle each contributing hits before Ezequiel Tovar loaded the bases with another single. Despite Finnegan converting 21 of his previous 23 save opportunities, McMahon managed to draw the crucial walk after falling behind in the count.
McMahon commented on the unusual situation: “You hate to see a game decided that way, but I’m happy it worked out in our favor. I’m never looking (at the clock). I’m letting the umpire do his job. I didn’t know what was going on until the umpire said something.”
The pitch clock rule was introduced in 2023, and this season, the time allowed between pitches with runners on base was reduced from 20 seconds to 18.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez acknowledged Finnegan’s recent challenges with the clock: “Kyle has had some trouble lately with the clock. It hadn’t really cost him to that point, but it’s something that we’ve kind of felt like might come back to haunt him at some point.
He could have stepped off, but it’s a tough situation. That’s something that he has to be mindful of. He’s just slow. So it burned him today. Typically it hasn’t burned him.”
