The St. Louis Cardinals had their six-game winning streak snapped in Friday afternoon’s game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. In the top of the eighth inning, Chicago escaped a serious jam — with some help from home plate umpire, Ron Kulpa.
While they trailed 4-3, the Cardinals were in prime position to tie the game or even take the lead when they loaded the bases with only one out. It looked even better for the Cardinals when Chicago pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. was struggling with his control and fell behind 3-0 in the count against pinch-hitter Alec Burleson. That’s when Kulpa took over.
Leiter’s 3-0 pitch appeared to be well outside. Kulpa, though, called it a strike. The 3-1 pitch was even further outside. Again, Kulpa called a strike. Leiter’s 3-2 pitch was actually wider than either of the two pitches before it. Burleson, though, seeing what happened on the two previous pitches and not being able to risk being called for a third strike, offered at the pitch. He hit a sharp grounder to shortstop, which Chicago’s Nico Hoerner fielded and turned into an easy double play.
After the out was recorded at first, an angry Burleson turned around and began to yell at Kulpa for the two missed calls — and was promptly ejected.
Ron Kulpa should get an assist on this DP. pic.twitter.com/HcKWaHTUH5
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 21, 2023
Baseball fans ripped Kulpa for his crucial mistakes.
St. Louis' Alec Burleson has been ejected after this plate appearance. pic.twitter.com/bWZitESE0d
— Tim Stebbins (@tim_stebbins) July 21, 2023
Here is a look at the two pitches (Nos. 4 and 5) before Alec Burleson grounded into an inning-ending double play. He worked the count to 3-0 before the two strike calls. pic.twitter.com/dIQaXwqoTz
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) July 21, 2023
Brutal.
With the bases loaded, 1 out, down 1 run, pitch 4 was called a strike in a 3-1 count. It was a ball. A frustrated Burleson asked the ump if that was the corner. He was told yes. The next pitch was WAY off and called a strike.
Then a double play to end the inning. pic.twitter.com/y3oNg7LDxi
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) July 21, 2023
Ron Kulpa when he sees #MLB players are in tough competition and he has two innings left to become the center of attention:pic.twitter.com/3aVs0RBsab https://t.co/GbE5EYZcL8
— Ahaan Rungta (@AhaanRungta) July 21, 2023
The second one especially. It was not remotely close. So Burleson kinda had to swing at pitch 6, and a tailor-made GIDP. https://t.co/bzgd24aIPB
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 21, 2023
A Ron Kulpa special with the bases loaded and the Cards trailing by a run. Pitch 6 was an inning ending doubleplay pic.twitter.com/2cum5RtFRl
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) July 21, 2023
One of the longstanding habits of a lot of umpires is that they’ll tend to look for strikes with pitchers who are throwing a lot of them and look for balls when the pitchers are erratic. And while that can be frustrating, it’s understandable. In any walk of life, someone is a lot more likely to get the benefit of the doubt if he or she has shown it’s deserved. But that’s not what was happening here.
Leiter faced two hitters. The first was Brendan Donovan, who he walked. The second was Burleson.
Sequences like this are only going to make the calls for robot umpires louder and more prevalent.
