The Philadelphia Phillies fell victim to some brutal calls on Sunday, and one of them led to an ejection for third baseman Alec Bohm.
The Phillies had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh during their 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Bohm looked at a 3-2 fastball that appeared to miss the inside corner by a wide margin, but home plate umpire Alex MacKay called it strike three.
Bohm was understandably irate. He slammed his bat on the ground and then turned around to argue, at which point MacKay threw him out of the game.
Alec Bohm was ejected after this and who could blame him pic.twitter.com/hi544DlI7m
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 13, 2023
Bohm had every right to be angry. The pitch was way inside and should have been ball four. Had MacKay made the correct call, the Phillies would have cut Minnesota’s lead to 2-1 and still had the bases loaded.
An inning later, Bryce Harper was called out on another questionable third strike. Harper briefly said something to MacKay before Phillies manager Rob Thomson came out of the dugout to make his argument. MacKay then ejected Thomson.
MacKay’s called third strike on Bohm may have been the difference in the game. Even MLB would admit that call should have gone the other way.
