Controversial umpire Angel Hernandez was at it again on Wednesday night in the showdown between the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals.
Just when you thought umpire Angel Hernandez could stay out of the news for at least a week, he went ahead and stole the show again in an important showdown. This was the case on Wednesday night, with the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals doing battle.
In the sixth inning, two questionable calls from Hernandez helped the Indians turn the corner in a close 5-4 victory.
In that inning, Kansas City skipper Mike Matheny, starter Brady Singer and pitching coach Cal Eldred were all tossed after their emotions got the best of them. It was all on Hernandez for firing them up.
Frustration is boiling over for Kansas City now that they’ve lost four consecutive games
“It’s an emotional time,” Singer said via MLB.com. “I’m out there wanting to pitch, out there fighting for the team. It’s a big game, we’re trying to get back into the series. And you got that stuff going on.”
What Singer is eluding to is how this all went down. To start things off, Jose Ramirez was at the dish and a Singer delivery went in tight. Hernandez claimed it hit Ramirez’s jersey and awarded Cleveland with a hit-by-pitch. Catcher Salvador Perez claimed he heard it hit Ramirez’s bat, but the call wasn’t overturned.
Then, after Eddie Rosario hit a two-run double, Singer tried picking him off at second, but Hernandez called a balk. As you might imagine, this caused even more anger from the Kansas City dugout.
“It didn’t seem clear,” Matheny said after Wednesday’s loss on the original hit-by-pitch. “The whole thing looked funny, didn’t look right. And I didn’t see any obvious sign in the replay. They’ve got better looks at it than we do, but it doesn’t change your frustration and your emotion level. You can never take that out of the game no matter how many replays you have to tell you what actually happened. Guys are going to let their emotions roll through because this means a lot to us.”
Kansas City will look to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of Cleveland on Thursday. It goes without saying, but Royals fans will be ready to explode if Hernandez has another say in the outcome of the contest.