VIDEO: Lance Barksdale Screws Over Nats by Rewarding Gerrit Cole With Awful Strike 3 to End Inning
By Karl Rasmussen
Home plate umpire Lance Barksdale is not a popular figure in the nation's capital right about now. After blowing a call on Michael Brantley in the sixth inning that should've seen the outfielder sat down on strikes, Barksdale erred again in the seventh inning. He called Victor Robles out on strikes on a pitch that looked very much outside of the zone, effectively rewarding Gerrit Cole and getting him out of a tough last inning of work.
it's not like it even passed through the zone. pic.twitter.com/sqXn1fY6Pq
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 28, 2019
The pitch, the sixth of the at-bat, was called a strike despite being well off the plate. Robles was sat down looking to end the inning, when in reality he should have been walking to first base.
The entire Nationals dugout erupted and voiced their displeasure with Barksdale's call.
HP ump Lance Barksdale does his bit to improve MLB by moving the sport just a little closer to electronic ball-strike calls by ringing up Robles on 3-2 pitch which is two ball-widths outside. Would've been 2 on, 2 out, tying run at bat for Nats in 7th. (Fans chant "Lock HIM up.")
— Thomas Boswell (@ThomasBoswellWP) October 28, 2019
A furious Robles tossed his helmet and batting gloves in Barksdale's direction after the called strikeout, so don't be surprised if he's issued a fine.
Nationals fans have been jeering at Barksdale since that awful call, as clearly they're sick of his poor judgement.