Orioles Call for MLB Rule Change Around Foul Pole Technology After Pete Alonso's Near-HR vs. Yankees

The Baltimore Orioles are calling for MLB to make changes around the foul pole in the wake of a controversial call in Wednesday's loss to the New York Yankees that saw an apparent homer by Pete Alonso ruled a foul ball.

Alonso appeared to hit a go-ahead solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, but the umpires called it foul and upheld the ruling after replay review even though at least one angle appeared to show the ball on the fair side of the pole.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Alonso outlined a "simple fix" in line with the pylon camera technology that the NFL uses to determine if the ball breaks the goal-line plane.

"I think a simple fix is like football, you have the pylon camera with the plane, where it shoots right across the goal line," Alonso said. "And I feel like, for us, we could easily have a laser or a camera that shoots straight up."

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz offered an idea to use ball-tracking technology that's already being used in different areas throughout MLB:

"On the dugout iPads there's ball-tracking data with the field that the players see, so it's really tough to have that [call] come back as 'stands' and have that visual in the dugout as well. It's 2026. There are teams using AI on the iPads and other sports use ball-tracking data for challengeable calls. Don't understand why we don't do it."

Alonso followed up, noting the umpires told him that MLB requires confirmation from two camera angles to overturn the original call and there was only one angle that showed clear evidence the ball was in fair territory.

"What I was told is in order to overturn a call, you need to have two camera angles to confirm it," Alonso said. "But the best view, the only view that shows the ball fair or foul is the one down the line, but no other camera angle is available. So video room rules it foul, umpire obviously called it foul initially. It is what it is."

Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun shared a screenshot of one piece of tracking data that showed the ball stayed fair throughout its entire trajectory.

The score was tied 3-3 at the time of Alonso's non-homer. His at-bat ended in a strikeout that ended the seventh inning.

New York notched two runs in the top of the eighth to get a 5-3 win. The Orioles have now dropped three straight games and sit in last place in the AL East, though they are only 1.5 games out of the final wild card spot.

The Yankees and Orioles will wrap up their three-game series on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. ET.