Kate Upton got ratio’d on Twitter for defending a controversial interference call during Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday night.
During the top of the 7th inning, Trea Turner was up with a runner on first and hit a swinging bunt towards the third base side of the mound. Pitcher Brad Peacock fielded it and threw where Turner was running, and the ball went into foul territory in right field. The Nats would have had runners on second and third with nobody out, but umpire Sam Holbrook called interference on Turner, saying he was outside the basepath.
The Nats were enraged by the call, and manager Davey Martinez later was ejected for complaining about it. There was a break in action as the umpires talked over the call with MLB’s replay center. During that time, Upton sent the following tweet and was met with negative reaction:
He wasn’t within the base path. Those who don’t know the rule you HAVE to run inside the 2 lines. Not sure why the review is taking so long… pic.twitter.com/SzUJTA4L70
— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) October 30, 2019
Upton is the wife of Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander, who was the starting pitcher in the game. Clearly she’s just a bit biased.
Here’s why it was a bad call by Holbrook: the rule is in place to prevent runners from intentionally blocking a fielder from being able to throw them out. The question the umpire has to answer is whether a runner was trying to block a fielder from throwing them out or running in a way that made it impossible for the fielder to throw them out. Turner’s swing took him into the field of play and then he tried running towards the middle of the bag and was there towards the end of his run. He did not block or prevent Peacock from making an accurate throw. Peacock made a bad throw towards Turner, and it was not because Turner was in the wrong place. If the rule of being in the basepath over the final 45 feet were so important, then it would be an automatic out any time a player were not exactly in the basepath going to first rather than a judgment call by the umpire. But it is up to the umpire to make a judgment call, and Holbrook used poor judgement in this case.
