MLB umpire C.B. Bucknor, who has been the subject of blown calls early in the 2024 season, took heat yet again after a blown call to end a game came after a three-hour rain delay.
Saturday’s contest between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox ended after Bucknor called strike three on Cardinals’ Ivan Herrera, which was clearly outside the strike zone.
The White Sox escaped with a 6-5 win in 10 innings despite the Cardinals having bases loaded with no outs. After two strikeouts, the rain delay began.
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Iván Herrera of the Cardinals reacts after a called strike three by umpire CB Bucknor to end the game against the Chicago White Sox in the tenth inning at Busch Stadium on May 4, 2024, in St Louis. (Joe Puetz/Getty Images)
Three hours later, Herrera was pinch hitting for the lefty Nolan Gorman, as the White Sox had their own lefty, Tanner Banks, on the mound.
With a 1-2 count, Banks delivered a low-and-outside fastball that was clearly seen off the plate. But Bucknor was quick to call out Herrera, who crouched in the batter’s box stunned that the umpire even made the call.
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“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the Cardinals TV announcers said when the call was made. “After all of that, he’s gonna call a pitch off the plate.”
Willson Contreras of the St. Louis Cardinals talks with umpire C.B. Bucknor during a game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 8, 2023, in Chicago. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol discussed the call after the game. He didn’t name Bucknor but referred to his awful call.
“You wait three hours and you want it to be determined between the pitcher and the hitter. That wasn’t the case,” Marmol said, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Bucknor’s call was just the latest controversy for him in less than a week. He was ripped for a strike three call on Baltimore Orioles young star Gunnar Henderson when New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes clearly threw a low pitch.
Home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor during the fourth inning between the Washington Nationals and the Reds at Great American Ball Park on March 30, 2024, in Cincinnati. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
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MLB umpires have drawn the ire of players and fans alike since the start of the season. And while it is a hard job, calls like this from Bucknor, especially in critical situations of the game, are not what teams want to see.
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