The Minnesota Twins have been on the wrong side of some generous strike zones this season but they finally benefitted from a egregious call from home plate umpire Andy McKay during Sunday afternoon's win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The moment came as Caleb Thielbar was protecting a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Coming in relief of Griffin Jax with one out, Thielbar get Kyle Schwarber to pop up for the second out of the inning before facing Alec Bohm with the bases loaded.
Thielbar jumped ahead to a 1-2 count early in the at-bat but ran the count full with two straight balls. With the game on the line, Thielbar's four-seam fastball appeared to be inside but McKay rang Bohm up for strike three to end the inning.
Bohm was ejected after slamming his bat and his helmet in response to the call and the crowd at Citizens Bank Ballpark rained down chants of "Ump, you suck!" as the game went into the eighth inning.
Thielbar went on to face Bryce Harper to lead off the bottom of the eighth and benefitted from what appeared to be another generous call from MacKay to earn his second strikeout. While Harper merely pleaded his case and trotted back to the dugout in disgust, Thomson had enough and became the second Philly to get ejected from the game.
As it turned out, this call was better than the first as Thielbar's pitch clipped the plate by approximately 38.7 centimeters but it didn't stop Philly fans from complaining online.
Unfortunately, this is not MacKay's first questionable call as he was berated by Chicago Cubs manager David Ross last month.
Minnesota fans know how brutal Philadelphia fans can be but they're probably just happy to get the win. After dropping three of four games to the Tigers, the Twins took a series from a Phillies team that had gone 39-20 over its last 59 games entering this weekend and will look to use that momentum as they host the Tigers for another series at Target Field beginning Tuesday night.
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