Blue Jays fans outraged over umpire's brutal calls in costly loss to Rays
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.
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