Minnesota Twins fans are feeling robbed this morning after MLB umpire Angel Hernandez botched a call on a Byron Buxton line drive in the ninth inning of their loss to the Texas Rangers.
The Twins entered the ninth inning down 6-5 when Buxton laced a screaming liner down the third-base line. Josh Smith bobbled the liner and tried to make a rushed throw to first, but Hernandez bailed him out and ruled it a foul ball.
Angel Hernandez calls a ball foul that clearly bounced on the chalk on replay pic.twitter.com/5nJW1XE87A
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 9, 2022
Upon further review, Buxton’s liner bounced on the chalk of the third-base line, which by rule is a fair ball.
Had it been ruled fair, Buxton would have at the very least been on first to lead off the 9th. As it was, the Twins went 1-2-3 to hand victory to the Rangers.
Hernandez is arguably the most controversial of umpires in baseball, regularly drawing the ire of fans for his questionable strike zones and calls.
Unfortunately for the Twins, such calls aren’t reviewable, which left everyone screaming into the void.
According the great Angel Hernandez, this is a foul ball and cannot be reviewed because it happened in front of his very eyes. @MLBUA how does he still working games? pic.twitter.com/dO64nfhMml
— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) July 9, 2022
The call: Foul
Reviewable? Nope
Umpire: Angel Hernandez— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) July 9, 2022
Angel Hernandez be like pic.twitter.com/McAbzkrS3l
— Blake Garman (@FrostedBlakes34) July 9, 2022
Angel Hernandez hates baseball. He's addicted to making the worst calls of all time https://t.co/HwJvwHeFdQ
— Marty Mush (@martymush) July 9, 2022
In case you’re wondering why it wasn’t just Twins fans arguing over the call, it’s because Hernandez is one of baseball’s biggest villains.
Hernandez has built a reputation as one of the league’s worst umpires and even filed a discrimination lawsuit against MLB because he hadn’t been selected to work a World Series since 2005 alleging it was because of his Cuban heritage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1NcRwKM7Q8
