The Los Angeles Dodgers were no-hit by Houston Astros pitcher Mike Fiers in a 3-0 loss at Minute Maid Park on Friday night, a game after they were two-hit in a loss to the Oakland A’s.
Fiers walked three batters — one in each of the first three innings — before retiring the final 21 in a row. The guy carved up the Dodgers’ lineup, striking out 10 while throwing 134 pitches — 88 for strikes.
After the game, Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, who is hitting .277 with an .857 OPS on the season, complained about umpire John Tumpane’s strike zone. Grandal went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Yasmani Grandal took issue with John Tumpane's zone for no-hitter: “This whole season I’ve been fighting that guy." pic.twitter.com/PQJemRrlUw
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) August 22, 2015
No pitcher achieves excellence without a friendly umpire, so I certainly empathize with Grandal. The difference between being up 3-1 in a count or at 2-2 is a huge swing.
While I have no doubt that Tumpane played a big role in helping Fiers, you can’t discount that the Dodgers were still swinging and missing a ton at the starter’s curveball, and chasing his high fastballs, which is more on them than the umpire. And Tumpane was not behind the plate on Wednesday when Grandal went 0-for-3 and the Dodgers only managed two hits. Translation: This is still on them.
