Ump Show: 3 bad moments in games impacting the MLB Playoff picture this week

1) Ron Kulpa ejects both managers on one play (Angels @ Guardians)

Ron Kulpa was the home plate umpire for the game between the Angels and Guardians in Cleveland and, in the seventh inning, things went absolutely nuts.

All-Star Andrés Giménez was at the plate for Cleveland, and he checked his swing on a pitch that nearly hit him in the foot. The appeal went down to third base, where third base umpire Clint Vondrak (a Triple-A fill-in) said that Giménez did not swing.

Guardians manager Terry Francona wanted to challenge the play to see if it was a hit by pitch. However, Kulpa and the base umpires, apparently, did not see that Francona wanted to challenge.

Kulpa then consulted with his acting second-in-command, John Tumpane, who was at first base to see if he saw Francona challenge in time (he is allowed 20 seconds to challenge and replays indicated that he signaled after 14 seconds). Kulpa and Tumpane decided to convene with the other two umpires (second base umpire Carlos Torres and the aforementioned Vondrak) to see if they saw anything.

Apparently, they didn’t as Kulpa went over to Francona and, evidently, said he couldn’t challenge it.

Kulpa then ejected Francona before Francona started screaming “F*** you!” multiple times to Kulpa.

Meanwhile, pitcher Ryan Tepera has been on the mound without making any pitches to stay fresh. Kulpa then tells Tepera that he will not allow any warmup pitches. Angels interim manager Phil Nevin comes out and gets ejected for it (so his pitcher could actually get some warmup pitches).

Later, in the ninth inning, Kulpa was knocked out of the game due to a foul ball taken to the mask. He had to be replaced by second base umpire Carlos Torres for what ended up being one pitch to end the game. Kulpa has yet to umpire a game since as he was replaced for the rest of the series, almost certainly due to an injury from the foul ball.

Hopefully, Kulpa’s health isn’t in jeopardy due to that foul ball and he can return and change some of his ways.

Ron Kulpa has been known to be a hothead before. His most famous incident was in 2019 when he told Astros manager A.J. Hinch “I can do anything I want” on the field.

He was just promoted to being a full-time crew chief this year after spending each of the last two seasons as an interim crew chief. Last year, he also worked in the World Series, the second of his career.

Overall, in comparison for crew chiefs, Ron Kulpa’s has been one of the better home plate umpires this year. Of the 18 full-time crew chiefs that have suited up this year (there are 19 but one has not umpired a game due to injury), he was tied for sixth-best in plate scores before this game.

However, his poor plate score on this game (89.5 percent) dropped him down a bit.