The New York Yankees beat up Boston starter Chris Sale on Saturday as the Red Sox fell to a 9-2 loss. Compounding Sale’s aggravation was home plate umpire Mike Estabrook’s strike zone.
Sale felt that he was getting squeezed for much of the day, and was actually ejected for arguing about the strike zone as he was being pulled from the game. Data showed that, at least in some cases, Sale had a point.
It was the third pitch – the one at the top of the strike zone that was called a ball – that led to Sale's anger and Cora's ejection. But Sale can't blame anyone for the 4 hits and 6 runs that followed. LeMahieu 3 run HR leads to a 7-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/6myhB5hUVO
— Tom Caron (@TomCaron) August 3, 2019
After the game, Sale owned up to pitching poorly, but suggested that umpires who make mistakes should be held more accountable as players and coaches are.
Chris Sale about accountability and the strike zone of Mike Estabrook today: pic.twitter.com/o8RrHDYCLx
— Michael Silverman (@MikeSilvermanBB) August 3, 2019
Frustrations with the strike zone are nothing new — in fact, the Yankees more or less got a new slogan out of manager Aaron Boone confronting an umpire over his calls a couple weeks ago. Umpire accountability is a regular topic as well, which is what Sale is touching on. MLB certainly doesn’t discipline umpires publicly except on very rare occasions, preferring to keep it behind closed doors. It’s perhaps understandable, but it looks like a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to acknowledge when the umpires get things wrong.
