A home plate umpire made an inexplicably horrendous call with a "ball" call on a pitch right down the middle of the strike zone during Monday night's Baltimore Orioles game against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
It happened in the top of the fourth inning with no one on and nobody out as the Orioles led the Blue Jays 6-3. On the 1-0 pitch, Orioles starter Zach Eflin threw a 91 mph sinker right down the middle of the plate to Blue Jays batter Ernie Clement. On the television camera, it appeared to be caught by catcher Adley Rutschman right in the middle of the strike zone. However, home plate umpire Brian Walsh incomprehensively did not make the strike call.
An absolutely dumbfounding call pic.twitter.com/8VihXC0AXa
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 29, 2025
We have seen horrendous ball-strike calls by MLB umpires, but this one could rank as one of the worst of all time. What on earth could Walsh have been looking at? If there were ever a case for using robots to call balls and strikes, this would be it.
Sure enough, Clement reached base on a single and eventually came around to score to cut the Orioles lead to 6-4. However, the Orioles scored 4 runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend their lead to 10-4.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports).
