Home plate umpire Phill Cuzzi did the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres no favors during Saturday’s game.
With only two full weeks remaining in the 2021 regular-season, the St. Louis Cardinals met the San Diego Padres, two teams battling for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. After the Cardinals took the first game of the series on Friday, Saturday’s contest presented itself as a true challenge for both the Cardinals and Padres.
The reason? Home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi’s strike zone, You can see what he was calling strikes in the video below, courtesy of Rob Friedman, aka “Pitching Ninja.”
In fact, everyone on Twitter shared their disbelief at how wide Cuzzi’s strike zone truly was on Saturday night.
Twitter reacts to Phil Cuzzi’s awful strike zone during Saturday’s Cardinals-Padres game
While Cardinals fans felt that Cuzzi was jobbing the team out of postseason contention, Padres manager Jayce Tingler did take exception to the umpire’s strike zone. Tingler was ejected in the top of the fifth inning by Cuzzi after shortstop Fernando Tatis was called out on a strike three call.
In a must-win game for the Cardinals and Padres, both had to contend with a ridiculously large strike zone by Cuzzi.