The San Diego Padres dropped a tight 4-3 game to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. With two outs and the tying run on second base, San Diego’s Jake Cronenworth struck out looking.
And it’s safe to say that Padres commentator Mark Grant did not agree with the final call of the game.
Arizona reliever Paul Sewald’s 2-2 pitch to Cronenworth looked to be well outside and possibly high. Despite that, home plate umpire Erich Bacchus rang Cronenworth up to end the game.
“Strike three call. And that ends the ballgame. And that was not a strike,” play-by-play man Don Orsillo said. As Orsillo began that call, Grant could be heard groaning in the background. And as soon as Orsillo finished, Grant took over.
“Brutal,” Grant said. “Horrible. Took the bat right out of the kid’s hands. Wasn’t even close.”
Orsillo briefly mentioned that Padres manager Mike Shildt was arguing the call. Grant then finished his rant, a rant that might have sounded a little different if this game was airing on a premium cable network.
“You gotta be shaving me,” Grant said.
Grant joins a long line of announcers left frustrated by questionable calls, including others that have ended games. And it’s easy to understand it here. This was not a blowout. And it’s not as though Cronenworth needed a home run to tie the game. Any single to the outfield likely would have done it.
Perhaps a challenge system for balls and strikes will be put in place after the season. But until that happens, expect more rants like this from announcers.
