The Philadelphia Phillies took on the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, and many Phillies fans are outraged after a questionable strike call from home-plate umpire Alex Mackay that led to the ejection of Phillies slugger Alec Bohm.
The Phillies’ offense had largely been silenced all game, coming into the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 2-0. However, Alec Bohm had a great chance to change things, coming to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the inning.
One swing of the bat could have given the Phillies a real chance to win this game. Unfortunately, Bohm didn’t get that chance, as he was called out on strikes on a very questionable strike-three call with a 3-2 count in the at-bat.
Bohm began walking to first base before the delayed strike-three call came in. He couldn’t believe it, throwing his bat down aggressively in frustration, which led to Mackay ejecting him on the spot.
"The pitch (to Alec Bohm), according to our box, was a hair in. Take a look, Statcast 3D."- Tom McCarthy
"A hair?"- John Kruk
"Well, I thought it was my hair. Maybe it's yours." McCarthy
"That (strike call is) terrible."- Kruk pic.twitter.com/Cd2rHjezJ9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 13, 2023
The pitch appeared to be pretty far inside, so Bohm certainly has a reasonable argument with the call. He was far from the only one upset about this call, as fans certainly thought that he should have earned a bases-loaded walk on the play.
Someone will say this was too close for Alec Bohm to take, but that pretty clearly should have been ball four. https://t.co/cWHSLsUu7T pic.twitter.com/dlgDdWpQRd
— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) August 13, 2023
What should have been a walk, results in Alec Bohm getting the boot after being called out on strikes 😬
This is a HUGE call. If correctly called, Harper would have hit in a 2-1 game with bases juiced!!
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) August 13, 2023
Alec Bohm was ejected after this. Bring in the robots. pic.twitter.com/X6pWn3Kpve
— OddsStack (@OddsStack) August 13, 2023
Alec Bohm lost his mind on a strike three call that looked wayyyy inside! pic.twitter.com/yVeyakNVMk
— Blaze Wave Media (@BlazeWaveMedia) August 13, 2023
Alec Bohm was ejected after this and who could blame him 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/hi544DlI7m
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 13, 2023
Perhaps the worst part about this call is that a pitch in a similar location earlier in the inning was called a ball.
Ball 1 for Bryson Stott in the same exact spot as Strike 3 (pitch 6) for Alec Bohm pic.twitter.com/v72TDxamZy
— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly) August 13, 2023
You never know how things would have turned out if Bohm had walked. But it would have been a 2-1 game, and with Bryce Harper up to bat next, the Phillies would have had a real chance to tie to take the lead in this game.
Instead, they went on to go scoreless in the game, losing 3-0 in a very frustrating game for Phillies fans…
