Joe West hurts Yankees with blown strike call on Brett Gardner
New York Yankees fans are furious with umpire Joe West for blowing a call during Brett Gardner’s final at-bat on Friday night.
The Yankees were trailing the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth and had one out with Gardner facing closer Ken Giles. Gardner had a 3-1 count and Giles threw a pitch that was a solid few inches outside. Rather than call it a ball and put Gardner on base as he should have, West called it a strike, leaving Gardner with a full count. He struck out in the at-bat instead of reaching base.
Here’s a look at the pitch:
Hey @MLB ,
You're going to have a missed call in the playoffs be the story instead of the game. No responsibility for the @MLBUA. At least Joe West took off his mask hoping Gardy would start a fight with him.
I'd say fix it but we'll wait till someone gets screwed in October. pic.twitter.com/SOtH8R7qqf
— Jake Story (@TalkinJake) September 21, 2019
Joe West just helped out the Astros. He called this pitch a strike to Brett Gardner in the 9th inning of a one-run game. Should have been ball four. Yankees lose. pic.twitter.com/SFOIaDHJKj
— John Alexander (@JohnAlex1313) September 21, 2019
The pitch was tracked by MLB (seen as pitch 5 in the graphic) as being over the far side of the white chalk of the other batter’s box.
Oh Joe West… pic.twitter.com/rqinJ2Am3M
— Jason Collette (@jasoncollette) September 21, 2019
Mike Ford followed by striking out to end the game.
Umpires should never be missing calls that badly. It stings even more when it’s a one-run game and your team is competing with the Houston Astros for homefield advantage in the playoffs.
