Umpires badly blow two calls in Twins-White Sox game

The umpiring crew for the Minnesota Twins-Chicago White Sox game on Tuesday night badly blew a pair of calls in Chicago’s 4-2 win at Target Field.

The first blown call occurred with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Justin Morneau was on second when Oswaldo Arcia singled to right field. Morneau tried to score on the play, but Alex Rios’ throw clearly beat him. Morneau tried to do a hook slide to avoid catcher Tyler Flowers. Morneau slid around Flowers and tried to reach back to touch the plate, but Flowers tagged him while he was sliding by. Believing Morneau was out, Flowers pretty much gave up after that. However, home plate umpire Jordan Baker missed the tag and instead gave credit to Morneau for reaching over and touching the plate after he was tagged. That bad call literally gave Minnesota a run and made the score 2-1 White Sox.

It’s understandable how Baker missed the call from his angle, so that’s why it would have been great for him to review it.

The next blown call was much worse.

In the top of the seventh, Adam Dunn was up with a 2-1 count. He hit a routine grounder to second, but second baseman Brian Dozier was playing in shallow right field because of the shift on the lefty. Dunn beat out the throw by a step, but first base umpire Dan Bellino called him out. The image above shows how badly he missed the call.

You know, it would be nice if MLB had replay available to review some of these calls. Then again, we’ve learned that doesn’t even solve all problems.