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Last night the Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics but were forced to suffer through some bad umpiring in the process. Home plate ump Nic Lentz had a tough night, highlighted by this horrible called strike three against Carlos Correa in a full count that would have otherwise loaded the bases. It obviously did not swing the result of the game but a bad call is a bad call. It even inspired a discussion by the Twins’ broadcast booth about how much they were looking forward to the rule changes that would allow a manager to challenge such a call.
This was the call that sparked the discussion. Carlos Correa thought he drew a walk that would load the bases with one out.
Home plate umpire Nic Lentz disagreed and called Lucas Erceg’s 3-2 pitch a strike. https://t.co/QIdsL1LbKz pic.twitter.com/laLSbJaehI
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) July 15, 2023
This was the tone of the evening and therefore it should come as no surprise that Joey Gallo got called out on a very similar low pitch that should have been a ball. Which is what led to David Popkins, hitting coach for the Twins, to tell Lentz exactly what he thought. Popkins was ejected and let out a stream of curses before exiting the dugout.
Twins hitting coach gets ejected after a borderline strike three call on Joey Gallo pic.twitter.com/iD6xobabls
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 15, 2023
As noted in the tweet it was indeed borderline and someone just tuning in might find the reaction to be a bit overzealous. But paired with the Correa call one inning earlier and you can understand why Popkins went off.
It seems the umps need no ramp-up period to get back to midseason form after the All-Star Break.