Umpire CB Bucknor’s Wild Day: Ejections, Count Fumbles!

Umpire CB Buckner’s Wild Day: Ejections, Count Fumbles!

In a game that had everyone talking, umpire CB Bucknor had a day filled with controversial calls and confusion. From managers getting ejected to missed counts and strange warm-up pitch arguments, Bucknor was at the center of the action from start to finish.

Manager Ejections and Wild Calls

The broadcast booth even started betting on which manager would get tossed first, showing just how heated things were becoming. Early on, Bucknor seemed to be missing calls on both sides of the plate. A leadoff walk to Melky Cabrera set the tone, with the pitcher clearly frustrated.

Then, things escalated quickly. Nolan Arenado was ejected after a questionable strike call, leading to a heated exchange with manager Oliver Marmol.

Marmol didn’t hold back, calling Bucknor’s umpiring “horseshit” and saying his time was up. Bucknor, however, seemed unfazed, letting the manager vent before calmly getting his gear ready.

“Your time is [expletive] done. I want to go home and [expletive] got here cuz you’re horseshit. You just [expletive] want to see your face again.

You just got here. It’s time for you to [expletive] just got here. Your time is up.”

Confusion Over Warm-Up Pitches

Later, a strange situation arose regarding warm-up pitches. Catcher Cal Raleigh and Bucknor got into a debate about how many pitches a pitcher could throw after the catcher visited the mound.

Bucknor insisted on one more pitch, while the manager argued for three. The confusion led to a brief standoff, but no ejections this time, just a disagreement over a rule interpretation.

Count Mishaps and Replay Reviews

The most baffling moment came in the ninth inning of a one-run game. With a batter at the plate and the count seemingly 2-2, Bucknor appeared to lose track of the count. The pitcher thought he had a strikeout, the catcher and batter had no idea what the count was, and the dugout was yelling that it was actually ball four.

Bucknor had to consult with his colleagues and even replay officials to sort out the mess. This led to the tying run getting on base, a crucial mistake in a close game. The transcript highlights this as a major issue, noting that Bucknor missed 20 out of 80 pitches in the shadow zone, a one-in-four miss rate.

Challenges and Player Frustration

The introduction of replay challenges added another layer to Bucknor’s day. Players like Elly De La Cruz and Yermín Suárez challenged calls, with replays often showing Bucknor was significantly off. In one instance, Suárez challenged a strike three call that was 1.1 inches off the plate, and another that missed by over two inches.

Benson also challenged calls that were well below the zone. The frustration was palpable as players and managers questioned Bucknor’s consistency and accuracy. Trevor Story was ejected after arguing a check swing call, with the transcript noting that Bucknor failed to consult the first base umpire on multiple occasions, despite doing so at other times in the game.

A Day of Missed Calls and Debates

The article also touches on an unusual play where Bucknor called a runner out for not touching first base, only for replay to show he clearly did. This led to laughter and disbelief, even from Bucknor himself, who admitted he looked away from the bag and got distracted by the ball.

The discussion then turns to whether MLB should allow umpires to initiate their own reviews for missed calls, rather than forcing teams to use up their challenges. The transcript suggests that Bucknor’s performance was so consistently poor that multiple calls should have been reviewed and overturned.

Overall, CB Bucknor’s umpiring on this day was a major talking point. The series of missed calls, count fumbles, and heated exchanges left fans and players questioning the accuracy and consistency of the officiating. It was a marathon of umpire incidents, leaving many to wonder about the future of umpiring in baseball.

Source: 26 minutes of CB Bucknor umpiring incidents, a breakdown marathon (YouTube)