Pete Alonso thought for sure he had tied the game in the bottom of the eighth when he smashed a deep drive to right center field.
The crack of the bat suggested Alonso may have gotten all of it, but the ball died at the warning track for the second out of the inning, leaving Alonso to rest his hands on his head in disbelief.
It was another piece of evidence that perhaps the baseballs are behaving a bit differently in 2022.
“Off of contact and the sound, absolutely I thought it had what it took to get over the wall, and it just didn’t unfortunately,” Alonso said. “Whether it's the ball or bad conditions, it is what it is. An out's an out.
“Tagged it pretty good on contact, it felt excellent, and for me, I thought that should go over the wall, but again, conditions were pretty unfavorable tonight…lot of fog out, it was raining, pretty much not a good night to hit the ball over the wall.”
Teams are averaging less than a home run per game this season, down from 1.22 last year and 1.39 in 2019, the year of the “juiced ball.” Per CBS Sports, teams are averaging just over four runs per game this season, which would be the lowest season average since 1980. A Baseball Prospectus study from last month shows that the drag on the baseball this season is noticeably higher, which can lead to seemingly certain home runs losing its momentum in flight, and resulting in a flyout like Alonso’s on Friday.
“I’m not gonna start getting in on the things going on around baseball,” manager Buck Showalter said. “The numbers are what they are.
“I think it's pretty obvious that it's been a challenge all around baseball. We're playing with the same baseballs from team to team. Whatever's going on, we've won our share of games the way it is.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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