The Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers played an instant classic on Monday. The game went 12 innings and even though it ended in rather anticlimactic fashion, with Los Angeles Trayce Thompson drawing a bases-loaded walk, it was everything you could ask for in a game between a pair of first-place teams.
At least, it was almost everything you’d want out of a game between a pair of first-place teams. Home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi absolutely butchered a critical sequence in the tenth inning.
Minnesota’s Alex Kirilloff came to the plate in the tenth inning. The Twins had already scratched a run across and with the bases loaded and only one out, Kirilloff was looking for some insurance. But Los Angeles pitcher Phil Bickford struck Kirilloff in three pitches. Only one of Bickford’s pitches — the one Kirilloff swung at — found the strike zone.
Bickford’s first offering to Kirilloff was both high and away, but called a strike by Cuzzi. The second pitch was also high and away, but in the strike zone. Kirilloff fouled that one off. As it turned out, that was his only realistic chance at doing anything. Bickford’s third pitch was inside. Not only did it miss the strike zone, but Dodgers catcher, Will Smith was set up on the outside corner and had to reach across the plate to catch the ball. It didn’t stop Cuzzi from ringing Kirilloff up.
"He never had a chance in that at-bat."
"That's not good."
"In a key spot, you've got to be better than that. He had to reach across the plate." pic.twitter.com/ORamLIJGCv— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 16, 2023
When a team benefits from a bad call, it’s not uncommon for its announcers to acknowledge the bad call, but in a cagey way.
There was no doing that here, though.
Dodgers announcers on the same sequence:
“Boy oh boy, Phil Cuzzi just made being a Major League hitter way harder than it already is.”
“Both sides of the plate were an extra three inches. We shall take it. I mean, that’s not even close.”
“That’s impossible for a hitter” pic.twitter.com/aL0oCQRZpG
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 16, 2023
Baseball fans were similarly frustrated, with the calls for robot umpires getting more prevalent.
The Challenge ABS system is needed.
With urgency. https://t.co/GdXA1g3FsL
— Carlos M. Ramírez (@Tomapapa) May 16, 2023
I reiterate how much we need to eliminate home plate umpires in the majors. https://t.co/iMCPLybq0X
— Karl Schoening (@KSMedia13) May 16, 2023
Robot umps I’ll allow it if this is what we get. https://t.co/rl0Yjx7X15
— Matt Shoultz (@mjshoultz) May 16, 2023
This at bat goes into the Angel Hernández wing of the Phil Cuzzi Hall of Fame. https://t.co/Nd641MZydq
— Gregg Litman (@GRLitman) May 16, 2023
Don’t worry. Roboumps are coming.
(But this is still ridiculous) https://t.co/EHDXFkPSeu
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) May 16, 2023
That's brutal. Two big misses on opposite sides of the plate in 3 pitches. How is a hitter supposed to cover 94 MPH above the zone several inches off the plate AND cover 94 MPH several inches off the plate inside?
Everyone is awful sometimes, players included, but cmon man. https://t.co/7haVqg8cvF
— Kevin Wheeler (@KevinWheeler94) May 16, 2023
[Photo Credit: Bally Sports North]
