Tossed from Friday's series opener at Yankee Stadium in the ninth inning following a contentious strikeout against Andrew Miller, David Ortiz didn't hold back after his club's tough loss, slamming umpire Ron Kulpa's strike calls on the 3-1 and 3-2 pitches that led to ejections for him and manager John Farrell.
"Have you seen Miller's numbers" Ortiz asked. "He don't need no help. That's all I can tell you."
Come on, now, Papi, don't hold back.
"One I can understand. One time. But not two. Both of those pitches were bad," Ortiz said. "He was having a hard time in the game earlier. That’s a situation where the game is on the line, and you've got to focus better.
David Ortiz was having NONE of the umpire's missed calls tonight.https://t.co/NKC9CyvRDF
— 120 Sports (@120Sports) May 7, 2016
Though Farrell was a bit more diplomatic after the 3-2 loss, he couldn't not offer his thoughts on the 3-2 slider, just below the knees, that Kulpa deemed a strike.
"You'd need a hockey stick on the 3-2 pitch," Farrell said.
Related: Watch: Ortiz ejected after called strike, restrained by Farrell
Despite their protestations, however, Kulpa's calls don't appear to be nearly as egregious as their reactions suggested. Though the 3-1 pitch very much looked like a ball because of how inelegantly Brian McCann received it, according to Brooks Baseball, the pitch is clearly a strike. The full-count slider appears to have missed down, but only by a slim margin.
"The 3-1 pitch, I had it coming through the zone. That’s why I called it a strike," Kulpa told a pool reporter. "McCann didn't help me out. He took the ball down a little bit. But the pitch still came through the zone.[Farrell] was arguing balls and strikes. He was just trying to keep Ortiz in the game and he was doing his job as a manager."
(Video courtesy: MLB.com)
