One of Angel Hernandez's worst missed calls came back to haunt the Yankees
Angel Hernandez doesn’t have a great reputation. He’s one of the few Major League Baseball umpires fans know by name, and that’s not a good thing. If fans remember an ump, it’s typically because they do something to make themselves the center of attention.
Hernandez put that skill on display during the New York Yankees game Tuesday. In the fifth inning, Hernandez missed an egregious strike call that led to a home run.
Here’s the pitch in question.
Congratulations to Masahiro Tanaka for not strangling Angel Hernandez after this call pic.twitter.com/8D4x5atTjk
— SI Extra Mustard (@SI_ExtraMustard) June 5, 2019
That’s pretty bad. The strike-zone graphic had that pitch squarely in the zone. While those aren’t always the best measure of the actual strike zone, that pitch was pretty obviously a strike.
That might explain why Tanaka takes a second to stare at Hernandez before asking for the ball back. Gary Sanchez also turns to look at Hernandez before throwing the ball to Tanaka.
That call wound up having a significant impact on the game. Randal Grichuk hit a home run on the next pitch. The Toronto Blue Jays scored four runs in the fifth inning, and went on to win the contest 4-3.
It’s not the first time Hernandez has had an issue with the Yankees. He was ripped by CC Sabathia following the team’s loss in the American League Division Series last year.
Hernandez has been the subject of numerous fan-led petitions to oust him from the game in recent years. After Tuesday’s miscue, we don’t expect those to stop any time soon.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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