Mason Miller’s historic Padres start ends in the most frustrating way possible

When the Padres took the field Monday night in San Diego against the Chicago Cubs, Mason Miller entered the game with an incredible stat line of 28 strikeouts, three hits allowed and zero earned runs allowed through 13.1 innings. This run was widely considered as one of the greatest pitching starts to a season in recent memory.

Entering the ninth inning of Monday night's game at Petco Park, the Friars held a 9-5 lead over the visiting Cubs. Randy Vasquez, who has had a spectacular season up to this point, threw five innings and allowed all five Chicago runs. The Padres then went to bullpen arms Andrew Morejon and Jason Adam to hold down the fort until the ninth. Padres manager, Craig Stammen then made the call to bring on the flame throwing Pittsburgh native in Mason Miller to record the game's final three outs.

Matt Shaw led off the top of the ninth as a pinch hitter for Chicago. After Miller started the at bat with back to back sliders away, leading to a 1-1 count, the four-year vet went back with a third outside slider, in which Shaw chopped down the third base line. The ball died quickly and slowly rolled down the line before Padres third baseman, Ty France thought he picked it up just after swerving foul.

Mason Miller finally allowed a run after umpire Dan Merzel missed Ty France’s foul-ball pickup

After home plate umpire Dan Merzel unexpectedly called the grounder fair, Craig Stammen hustled out of the Padres dugout to give his thoughts on the call, amidst the overwhelming boos coming from the fans in the stadium. Merzel then checked in with the third base umpire to pick his brain on the status of the ball, where it was confirmed after a quick conversation that the ball was in fact fair. Unhappy, Stammen, who is a former MLB pitcher, let Merzel hear a few more words on the call before heading back into the dugout.

This infield single by Shaw was just the start of a two-run inning for the Cubs. Dansby Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong both struck singles into left and right field in the following at bats to load the bases up. A Nico Hoerner fielder's choice, followed by a wild pitch from Miller himself allowed two runners to score in the inning, ending Miller's miraculous scoreless season thus far.

After the game, Miller expressed the team's win is what matters at the end of the day. He was then asked about the controversial call and told reporters, "the call is what it is. I thought I saw something different but he was a lot closer than I was, and I think everybody in the stadium had an opinion, but ultimately it's only his that matters", via Marty Caswell.

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