If there’s one thing we can say about Angel Hernandez, it’s that at least he’s consistent; he can badly blow calls from anywhere on the diamond. On Friday night, Hernandez managed to screw up a call as the third base umpire pretty badly.
The Minnesota Twins lost 6-5 to the Texas Rangers. Byron Buxton was leading off the top of the ninth for Minnesota and grounded a 1-0 pitch from Brett Martin to third base. The ball ate up Josh Smith, who was unable to field it cleanly.
The ball bounced over third base and landed on the foul line for what should have been a fair ball. But Hernandez emphatically and decisively called it foul.
https://twitter.com/JomboyMedia/status/1545614160951709699
The call by Hernandez took away at least a single from Buxton. Such a call also is not reviewable.
Instead of having the tying runner on with nobody out, Buxton struck out, and Minnesota went 1-2-3 in the ninth to lose the game. That missed call must really sting for the Twins.
