The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Monday in an exciting extra-inning game. While the Dodgers had several key contributors in their win, first base umpire Ángel Hernández was not one of them.
Los Angeles scored a run to go up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the tenth inning. Miami, though, staged a rally against Craig Kimbrel, loading the bases with only one out. The Dodgers called upon Chris Martin to close things out for them. He took a step in that direction with a strikeout of Garrett Cooper for the second out. Jacob Stallings was up next and Martin appeared to finish the game off with a strikeout on a 1-2 pitch but Hernández ruled that Stallings checked his swing.
An overhead look of the play shows that Stallings clearly offered at the pitch.
Angel Hernandez is at it again pic.twitter.com/S3cSNzMcgS
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) August 30, 2022
The performance of MLB umpires has been a hot topic in the baseball world all season. Even still, no umpire gets fans going quite like Hernández.
Those baseball fans had a lot to say about his latest flub.
https://twitter.com/djhomicide/status/1564436349330997248
Angel Hernandez trending again. pic.twitter.com/jlSc4oh1UW
— Mike (@MikeB_923) August 30, 2022
Bro wasn’t ready to go home just yet https://t.co/xxfQ7Cilpd
— DΛVΣ (@DoyersDave) August 30, 2022
There's always something new with Angel Hernandez. https://t.co/Q8F1lGwFhj
— EmperorFun (@Emperor_Fun) August 30, 2022
Enough is enough. FIRE HIM NOW! https://t.co/HnKPB3UtrG
— Nate Marroquin (@natemarroquin) August 30, 2022
As things played out, this miss was largely inconsequential. A correct call would have ended the game but two pitches later, Stallings popped out to first base anyway. With that, the Dodgers had their win.
But while it worked out OK this time, there’s no guarantee that things will be so clean next time. Hernández is not a good umpire and whenever he has an assignment at first base or home — where most of the close calls are made — there’s an uneasy feeling. Moments like this are a perfect illustration of why that is.
