A poor performance by an umpire can determine a baseball game.
Angel Hernandez had a poor performance Sunday night in Philadelphia, and it resulted in an ejection for Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Schwarber was facing Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader with one out and the Brewers up 1-0. In a 3-2 count, Hader threw a 98 mph fastball near the outside corner of the strike zone. ESPN’s strike zone showed that the ball was outside, but Hernandez rang up Schwarber for his second strikeout of the game and the second out of the inning.
Schwarber, livid at the call, threw his bat to the ground and was immediately ejected from the game by Hernandez.
Kyle Schwarber was not happy with this called third strike. pic.twitter.com/WSjs5LyYDQ
— ESPN (@espn) April 25, 2022
After the game, Schwarber expressed his frustration with Hernandez’s strike zone.
“I’m not here to bury anyone, but it wasn’t very good,” Schwarber said according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I don’t know how to really say it. It just wasn’t very good.”
Brewers catcher Omar Narvaez shared Schwarber’s feeling on the strike zone on Sunday night, but also added that Hernandez was “at least consistent.”
“Everybody saw the game and everybody saw that he was at least consistent for both teams. I’m not gonna say he was good because he wasn’t, but at least he was consistent for both teams,” Narvaez said. “Sometimes you just got to adjust and not leave the decision to the umpire.”
Hernandez, who is no stranger to controversy, made multiple calls on the night which flabbergasted the Sunday Night Baseball broadcasting crew.
Angel Hernandez stays seated at the throne of the worst to ever do it. pic.twitter.com/TPI22ghYrF
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) April 24, 2022
Angel Hernandez in elite form tonight pic.twitter.com/VuTicAGPVF
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) April 25, 2022
“It was a consistently big zone. It was just a little big in a lot of areas,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said after the win. “I think Schwarber said it was big on both sides. And there was bound to be somebody upset when it’s like that.”
There has been increasing calls for robot umpires over the last few years, and Hernandez’s performance on Sunday night will only make those calls louder. But even with Schwarber being frustrated with the strike zone, the eight-year veteran has no interest in seeing umpires replaced by an electronic strike zone.
“I don’t want the electronic strike zone,” Schwarber said. “I like the element of sometimes pitches don’t get called. It’s an enjoyable part of the game. But when you have things that are getting called off the plate with really good pitching on their side, it can be harder to score. You saw on both sides that it was a harder game to score.
“Guys were doing a really good job tonight of not saying much,” Schwarber continued. “It just got to me to where I was going to stick up for myself, stick up for some other guys.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].