Angel Hernandez serving as the home plate umpire for Sunday’s Cincinnati Reds-Chicago Cubs game was Joey Votto’s worst nightmare.
Votto went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts in his team’s 6-3 loss. Known for having one of the best commands of the strike zone in MLB and highest walk rates in the league, Votto was called out by Hernandez on all three of the strikeouts. Here’s a look at the pitches, which were all very close to the zone.
One of the calls appears to have been correct, although two of the strike calls — and a handful of others — seemed to be wrong.
Votto did have an RBI double in the third to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Cincinnati went up 3-0 in the game before allowing six unanswered runs to lose.
No surprise, Votto let Hernandez know he wasn’t pleased with the calls.
Votto should actually be somewhat thankful. When it comes to Hernandez, the blown calls usually are much worse.
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