CB Bucknor had a very bad day at the office on Saturday.
The veteran MLB umpire Bucknor was behind the plate for Saturday’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It ended up being a very humiliating showing by Bucknor, who got eight total calls behind the plate challenged by MLB’s new automated ball-strike system (ABS) … and got six of those calls overturned.
Bucknor had a call overturned by Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony in the second inning and later had five different calls reversed by three different Reds players (Elly De La Cruz, Eugenio Suarez, and Will Benson). Here is the full play-by-play record of Bucknor’s eight challenged calls, of which six were overturned and two were upheld.
Rough day for CB Bucknor so far pic.twitter.com/OC0lfgROdW
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) March 28, 2026
The most embarrassing moment for Bucknor came in the sixth inning. That was when Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez successfully overturned two of his calls using ABS … on back-to-back pitches. Upon the second call getting overturned, a loud roar erupted from the Cincinnati crowd.
C.B. Bucknor tried to ring up Eugenio Suárez on back-to-back pitches.
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) March 28, 2026
Suárez challenged both and won both challenges.
(H/T: @tylermilliken_) pic.twitter.com/erzchAXPw0
As a result of his horrible performance on Saturday, Bucknor got the meme treatment over social media.
I think CB Bucknor might actually be worse at his job than anyone in the world is at any of their respective jobs. He is that laughably bad.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) March 28, 2026
CB Bucknor has 78 challenges so far and was wrong on all of them. pic.twitter.com/yE9h4ojmVT
— Jim Dalfino (@jimsoxfan) March 28, 2026
CB Bucknor pic.twitter.com/EzqQ0V3s6F
— KutterIsKing (@KutterIsKing) March 28, 2026
Every team should get an extra challenge when CB Bucknor is behind the plate. pic.twitter.com/qFs7x3zAum
— Boston Strong (@BostonStrong_34) March 28, 2026
If Bucknor’s extensive track record of ghastly calls is any indication, he was probably always this bad. But now for the very first time, MLB teams have the ABS system at their disposal to show off just how bad Bucknor really is.
