© Mark J. Rebilas | 2020 Sep 10
You don’t have to be a baseball expert to know home plate umpire Rob Drake had a terrible afternoon in the Giants’ finale on Sunday, but now we have some numbers to back it up.
According to Umpire Auditor, which tracks every ball and strike call from every MLB game, Drake missed 27 calls on Sunday. The most egregious was a strike one call to Wilmer Flores in the eighth inning, one that was 5.99 inches off the plate. The second worst was a strike three pitch to Austin Slater in the third inning, which missed by 4.07 inches.
The pitch to Flores was the most egregious missed ball-strike call throughout all of Major League Baseball on Sunday.
Umpire Rob Drake had an atrocious game yesterday, missing 27 calls in a one run game that eliminated the @Giants from playoff contention.
These were his two worst calls of the day, missing by 5.99 inches and 4.07 inches. pic.twitter.com/eJ8KSeWZwW
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) September 28, 2020
Slater was screwed again in the ninth inning, when Drake rung him up on a low pitch, ending the Giants’ season.
Strike three to end the season? ? pic.twitter.com/jIGOCnFTsJ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 27, 2020
Drake gave Slater and Mauricio Dubon the same treatment two innings prior.
Rob Drake with two brutal strike 3 calls on Dubon and Slater. The pitch is not a strike to begin with and considering they were sliders-these pitches were never strikes at all. Adams missed his location badly. Rarely does that get called. Happens twice this inning. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/1mfk1dLxK5
— Jules Posner (@julesposner) September 27, 2020