Blue Jays fans outraged over umpire's brutal calls in costly loss to Rays
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Every pitch matters for the Toronto Blue Jays right now as they look to maintain their tenuous hold on a wild-card spot in the American League playoff race.
So when a pair of calls are blatantly missed in the ninth inning of a tight affair, it stings even more than usual. With the Blue Jays mounting a late comeback in Monday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, home plate umpire Ron Kulpa took over.
First, with Teoscar Hernandez at the dish representing the tying run in a 6-4 contest, Kulpa completely swung the at-bat by calling Pitch 4 a strike:
Instead of being in a 3-1 count, Hernandez was staring down a 2-2 situation and struck out two pitches later.
Then, with the bases loaded and the score still 6-4, Breyvic Valera stepped to the plate and quickly worked himself into a 3-0 count. After taking a borderline strike at the top of the zone, he was left baffled when Pitch 5 was also called in the pitcher's favour:
Instead of an RBI walk to make it 6-5, Valera ended up striking out to end the threat and trim the Blue Jays' wild-card cushion to just a half game over the New York Yankees.
As expected, Blue Jays fans flocked to social media to express their outrage over Kulpa's game-altering calls.
in a tight wild card race, Yankees winning, Red Sox day off, Oakland or Seattle will win and the umpire does this. I just cant believe someone can be so damn bad at their job. #BlueJays @BlueJays pic.twitter.com/rmqr8u50C8
— Orisawesome (@orisawesome) September 21, 2021
Ron Kulpa tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays. Worst umpire on planet earth. #Ronkulpa #MLBumpires #WildCardRace #RonKulpaBlows pic.twitter.com/Wd9nFmXTuI
— Travis (@CarCrazy411) September 21, 2021
The @BlueJays should formally complain about home plate umpire tonight. Just terrible. Strike zone was as inconsistent as I've ever seen it. @MLB don't let this ump near the post season!!
— RoGoOil🇨🇦 (@oileral) September 21, 2021
My artist rendition of the strike zone in the @BlueJays vs @RaysBaseball game last night. pic.twitter.com/gFnzvPyktC
— JohnnyBowerPowerHour (@bower_hour) September 21, 2021
Strike zone when Umpire Ron Kulpa is behind the plate.
Ridiculous.#BlueJaysOnSN #bluejays #MLB pic.twitter.com/bFC5gs381e— Joel Boyce (@BoyceWillBBoyce) September 21, 2021
Unreal. Imagine a playoff spot coming down to an umpire who blows three or four strikes in the 9th. Unacceptable. #BlueJays
— MC (@bigcitychico) September 21, 2021
It’s one thing to get some borderline pitches wrong, but there is absolutely no reason for the umpire to call at least 5 pitches strikes when they’re 20 feet out of the strike zone.
Blue Jays would’ve tied the game at 6 with all these walks, pathetic.#WeAreBlueJays— Joseph Zita (@josephdzita) September 21, 2021
How much did Boston & New York pay this home plate umpire in the #BlueJays game tonight?#WeAreBlueJays
— Steve Johnson (@sportsgeek22) September 21, 2021
At least the bad calls went both ways, right? Nope.
Umpire: Ron Kulpa
Final: Rays 6, Blue Jays 4#RaysUp // #WeAreBlueJays#TBvsTOR // #TORvsTB pic.twitter.com/Uyz7bmwrxi— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) September 21, 2021
Via @MLB Baseball Savant page:
Tampa Pitchers: 8 pitches outside strike zone called strikes last night (Most in MLB on Monday Night)
Blue Jays Pitchers: 1 pitch outside strike zone called strike last night. pic.twitter.com/5HX8OMpQ3G— Chris Black (@DownToBlack) September 21, 2021
4 charts from tonight's Jays game:
Tampa Pitchers: 4, maybe 5, balls called strikes... 1, maybe 2 strikes called balls
Toronto Pitchers: 1 ball called a strike... and you could argue 9 pitches touched zone & were called a ball.
Just a ridiculous day of squeezing Ray / Pearson. pic.twitter.com/eHlDgJHRx0— Chris Black (@DownToBlack) September 21, 2021
The debacle just added fuel to the fire for those looking to bring in robot umpires at the MLB level. Alek Manoah's bizarre idea for improving strike-zone consistency is also starting to sound pretty good right about now.
More from Yahoo Sports