Baseball’s most notorious umpire has struck again — and the Nationals broadcast crew was fed up.
In his first game back as a home plate umpire since a back injury sidelined him in April, Angel Hernandez did what he does best — make questionable calls behind the plate, this time during a Nationals-Brewers game on Wednesday afternoon, with a notably egregious one happening early in the contest.
As Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore was pitching to Milwaukee outfielder Tyrone Taylor in the second inning, Hernandez’s poor call on a pitch at the bottom of the zone had an immediate effect on both the game and the tenor of the announcer’s commentary.
After Hernandez called a 94.8-mph fastball at Taylor’s knees a ball, the light-hitting outfielder, who owns just a .478 OPS this season, took the next pitch deep to left field for a home run to put Milwaukee in the lead.
“You cannot miss this bad. That’s a couple balls on the plate and up, and he’s gonna get balled up on that?” MASN analyst Kevin Frandsen said.
“After a pitch the Nats did not get the call on that would have changed the count — Mackenzie Gore’s having a word with Angel Hernandez right now — Taylor homers for his third of the year and Milwaukee’s on top,” play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter added.
“[Gore] should [argue]. There’s a bad call. You know what the difference is between 1-2 and 2-1 is? Well, let’s try about 200 points on the batting average and .340 on the slugging percentage, literally, with a horrendous call by Angel Hernandez, yet again,” Frandsen continued.
The Twitter account @UmpScorecards, which grades umpires’ performance by using MLB’s electronic strike zone, confirmed after the game that Hernandez was not calling the low strike — giving his total accuracy a 93 percent grade and his consistency a 96 percent.
Fortunately for the Nationals, Hernandez’s second-inning blunder didn’t ruin the game: Washington came back to win, 3-2, after a wild walk-off error by the Brewers.
