CHICAGO — Did he or didn’t he?
For the second straight night, a playoff game featured a debate over a check swing in the ninth.
This time it was the San Francisco Giants who were left to grouse. With his team trailing by a run,*outfielder Gorkys Hernandez took what he believed to be ball four on a 3-2 count as he led off the ninth inning against Chicago Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman.
First-base umpire Alan Porter saw it differently, however, and called Hernandez out as the player walked toward first in the Cubs’ 1-0 victory in Game 1 of the NLDS at Wrigley Field.
Hernandez’s shocked face told the story:
Gorkys Hernandez couldn’t believe he was out. (FS1) Needless to say, it was a big call because Chapman doesn’t give hitters much. It turned even bigger once Buster Posey doubled with two outs, leading Giants fans to believe their team could have tied it.
“Not even close,” Hernandez said after the game. “I don’t know what happened.”
Giants manager Bruce Bochy agreed with his player.
“From our view, it didn’t look like he went,” Bochy said. “That’s a tough break for us.”
It certainly did look like Hernandez held up on the swing. At the very least, he did a better job than Boston Red Sox star Dustin Pedroia, who ended Thursday’s ALDS Game 1 loss to Cleveland with a strikeout on a checked swing. Though Pedroia argued fiercely on the field, he later saw a replay of the swing, and admitted that he had gone around. He said he planned to apologize to umpire Phil Cuzzi before Friday’s Game 2.

The Giants weren’t blameless in the loss. Hernandez was thrown out stealing in the top of the first while Conor Gillaspie was picked off first by catcher David Ross in the third.
The Giants also failed to capitalize when Ben Zobrist misplayed an Angel Pagan line drive in the fourth and Posey failed to try for home despite the ball bouncing behind the Cubs left fielder.
Bochy explained after the game that Posey was going hard into second base and didn’t see the ball get past Zobrist.
Whatever the case, Cubs starter Jon Lester induced a grounder from the next batter to strand Posey at third and keep the Giants off the board.