C.B. Bucknor’s awful call in Braves-Nationals game leaves observers fuming

The Washington Nationals were irate with C.B. Bucknor’s call that could have cost them their game against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday evening.

C.B. Bucknor has a well-earned reputation as one of the worst umpires in Major League Baseball. On Tuesday night, he outdid himself with a call so jaw-droppingly awful it left observers scrambling to find ways to describe it.

It happened in the ninth inning of the Nationals-Braves game in Atlanta. Washington’s Shawn Kelley struck out Chase d’Arnaud with the bases loaded to give the Nats a 3-1 win. Or so thought everyone except home plate umpire Bucknor.

Somehow Bucknor called a foul tip on a pitch d’Arnaud missed by several inches. Take a look:

Wow. Even d’Arnaud was puzzled, calling Bucknor’s foul-tip call “bizarre.”

The botched call gave the Braves life, though d’Arnaud swung and missed (again) on the next pitch. Bucknor managed not to screw up a second time.

The call was “disgusting” and “embarrassing,” said Nats radio broadcaster Dave Jaegler. For good measure, he dubbed it “an absolute joke.”

His partner, Charlie Slowes, called it “horrible.” MASN’s F.P. Santangelo said: “That’s just pure incompetence. It really is.”

Ray Knight, who has seen a baseball game or two in his life, didn’t hold back either.

Even Braves manager Brian Snitker acknowledged d’Arnaud missed the pitch by about “eight inches.”

Unhappiest of all was Nats veteran Jayson Werth, who had words with Bucknor after the last out was recorded:

"“This is my like my 14th year in the big leagues,” Werth told reporters. “You see a lot of things, but when it’s consistently not with the standards of the league, I think something needs to be done. I just can’t believe that every time it’s bottom of the barrel. Every time. I know I’m handcuffed here. I can’t say a whole lot. I don’t want to get suspended. But these games are serious. That’s the thing. These games mean a lot. The game is over there, and all of a sudden it’s not over.”"

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Werth is right: Something needs to be done. MLB had a responsibility to sanction Bucknor for such an egregious mistake.