Angel Hernandez serving as the home plate umpire for Sunday’s Cincinnati Reds-Chicago Cubs game was Joey Votto’s worst nightmare.
Votto went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts in his team’s 6-3 loss. Known for having one of the best commands of the strike zone in MLB and highest walk rates in the league, Votto was called out by Hernandez on all three of the strikeouts. Here’s a look at the pitches, which were all very close to the zone.
Angel Hernandez has a personal vendetta against Joey Votto and he doesn't even try to hide it pic.twitter.com/eNoJbKuKa9
— Joey Votto (@EvilJoeyVotto) August 11, 2019
One of the calls appears to have been correct, though two of the strike calls — and a handful of others — seemed to be wrong.
So, went to look up the three called third strikes to Votto — Angel Hernandez was at least consistent with all three pic.twitter.com/B0nPFMBSgC
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) August 11, 2019
Votto did have an RBI double in the third to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Cincinnati went up 3-0 in the game before allowing six unanswered runs to lose.
No surprise, Votto let Hernandez know he wasn’t pleased with the calls.
Votto was on the top step clapping and yelling… he's really, really not happy with Angel Hernandez
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) August 11, 2019
Votto should actually be somewhat thankful. When it comes to Hernandez, the blown calls usually are much worse.
