Mets unsurprisingly responsible for weirdest pitch clock violation of Opening Day

Opening Day this season meant MLB played its first real games under the influence of the pitch clock on Thursday. The New York Mets, naturally, were responsible for the clock's weirdest moment.

The fun came in the sixth inning of the Mets' opener against the Miami Marlins, when Jeff McNeil was up to bat with teammates Pete Alonso on first and Starling Marte on third. McNeil began the at-bat against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara with a foul ball, and then things got weird.

As McNeil prepared to face Alcantara again, home plate umpire Larry Vanover stopped play and hit him with another strike. The crime wasn't McNeil's, though. Instead, the umpires were penalizing Alonso for not returning to first base quickly enough after the first-pitch foul ball.

The Mets, from McNeil to Alonso to manager Bud Showalter, were not happy with the decision, nor was the Mets' SNY television booth.

A clip from the Marlins broadcast shows what made Vanover hit McNeil with the strike, as Alonso took about 15 seconds after the pitch to return to first base.

It's unclear what Vanover's reasoning was, but the slate of new rules introduced by MLB this season give umpires a significant amount of discretionary power in deciding what constitutes a violation.

Fortunately for the Mets, the extra strike ended up not mattering when McNeil singled two pitches later to score Marte, putting the team up 3-0.