Angels announcers tear umpires to shreds after game-ending-call controversy: ‘Garbage’

The Angels felt the umpires were being devilish at the end of Wednesday’s matinee.

Their announcers felt the same way.

In a tight 6-5 game with two outs in the ninth inning against the Orioles in Anaheim, outfielder Jo Adell was thrown out at second base attempting to steal on the final play of the game — even as a replay appeared to show he was safe.

https://twitter.com/CodifyBaseball/status/1783278409520680973

The Angels challenged the call, and replays did seem to confirm that Adell got his foot on second base before Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson applied the tag.

Replay review, however, upheld the original call, and Adell was out, and the Angels lost a 6-5 ball game.

On the call for Bally Sports West, play-by-play man Wayne Randazzo and analyst Mark Gubicza torched the umpires and replay officials for not changing the call in Los Angeles’ favor.

“Oh that is absurd,” Randazzo said as the call was announced by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale. “That’s a joke, that’s a joke. Absolutely ridiculous, it is clear on the replay that Adell was safe, and it’s a ridiculous way to end this game. That’s garbage.”

“Just unbelievable,” Gubicza added after a few more replays were shown on the telecast.

3

Adell, who went 1-for-3 with a walk in the heartbreaker, also told reporters after the game that he vehemently disagreed with the call from second base umpire Nic Lentz.

“I was in there,” Adell said, according to ESPN. “That call goes our way, we have [Luis] Rengifo up with a runner on second and we’re ready to tie the game.”

“We’re all looking at the picture, we’re watching the video. Where my foot hit and where I got tagged were two totally different spots.”

3

Henderson, for his part, seemed to acknowledge that the Orioles were “fortunate” to be on the right side of bang-bang call.

“I felt like I got a good tag on him. It was really close,” Henderson said, according to the Associated Press. “We’re very fortunate that they called it out on the field.”

MLB, in a statement after the game, said the reason that the call was not overturned was the fact that replay officials could not definitively see Adell’s foot reaching the base first.

3

“After viewing all relevant angles, the replay official could not definitively determine that the runner touched second base prior to the fielder applying the tag,” the league said, according to ESPN.

Umpires have been in the crosshairs all week, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone was tossed by Hunter Wendelstedt after he thought the skipper was continuing to argue when it was in fact a fan behind the dugout who had yelled.

On Tuesday, John Tumpane — also calling balls and strikes in the Yankees series — had a rough night, particularly on one at-bat with Juan Soto at the plate.