The umpires in Thursday’s Minnesota Twins-Boston Red Sox game missed a call so badly that Alex Cora got ejected telling them what a lousy job they had done.
The Sox were down 3-0 before rallying in the top of the 8th against Minnesota’s bullpen to tie the game at 3. Boston’s pen got into some trouble in the bottom of the inning and had runners on second and third with only one out. Matt Andriese had a 1-2 count on Ryan Jeffers and got Jeffers to swing at a breaking ball and miss.
There was one problem: home plate umpire Jordan Baker said Jeffers tipped the ball. None of the other umpires corrected him.
Here’s the play:
Alex Cora tossed and I can't blame him. Tied in the bottom of the 8th with runners at 2nd & 3rd with 1 out, Matt Andriese K's Ryan Jeffers, but Jordan Baker said it was a foul ball. After the ejection, Andriese K's Jeffers "again" to get the out anyway. Sox got out of the jam. pic.twitter.com/r6w47uYhjJ
— James Smyth (@JamesSmyth621) April 15, 2021
Goodness, that wasn’t even close:
"foul tip" says the umpire pic.twitter.com/x65UxPjezZ
— CJ Fogler (@cjzer0) April 15, 2021
Cora complained about the call and told the umpires that they botched it. He noted it was their second time missing a call like that; in a previous game of the series, they missed a Red Sox player actually tipping the ball foul. Cora got ejected.
Luckily Andriese was able to finish the strikeout, and the Red Sox escaped the inning without allowing any runs.
Man, that was a badly blown call. Even the umps will recognize it when they see the replays.
