Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton was ejected at a pivotal point in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the New York Mets when he took exception to a strike call that was so bad, that it left both teams’ broadcasters utterly baffled.
With the Pirates trailing by three runs, outfielder Jack Suwinski was called to pinch hit with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.Â
That at-bat resulted in him striking out on a 3-2 pitch from Reed Garrett. But that decisive swing only came after home plate umpire John Tumpane made two extremely bad strike calls earlier in the at-bat to completely change the situation for both Garrett and Suwinski.Â
Here’s the Pirates’ broadcast on which play-by-play man Greg Brown nearly had a complete meltdown after the 3-1 call that Suwinski (rightfully) thought was ball four.