A 30-second video review reversed home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild’s assertion that a down-and-in slider from Chicago White Sox right-hander Ervin Santana had plunked Orioles right fielder Stevie Wilkerson. It took only three pitches for Wilkerson to make Santana wish it had.
After trotting from the batter’s box to first base and back, Wilkerson slugged his first major league home run in the fourth inning of Wednesday night’s 4-3 victory. The solo shot came on Santana’s fourth straight slider to Wilkerson, and unlike the previous three, it found the middle of the strike zone, allowing Wilkerson to send it out to center.