Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz is must-see TV every time he takes the field. You want to see what he can do at the plate, on the basepaths, and at shortstop. So any time an umpire limits our chances of seeing him do something special, it hurts.
That happened during Tuesday night's game in St. Louis when home plate umpire Larry Vanover rang De La Cruz up on a pitch that wasn't close to being a strike. That came after Vanover made an equally bad call on strike two.
The Reds' announcer had the perfect reaction to the third strike:
"Get out of here!," John Sadak immediately yelled. "Come on, man!"
Here are those bad calls by the ump, and the great call by Sadak:
34 year veteran umpire Larry Vanover called an atrocious game.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) September 11, 2024
He missed 26 calls for a correct call rate of only 83.2%, the 3rd worst rate of the season.
After he rang up Elly De La Cruz on two pitches well outside the zone, he ejected manager David Bell for complaining. pic.twitter.com/jbVRS9UZxN
Not cool, Larry Vanover.
De La Cruz was able to steal two more bases in the game, raising his MLB-leading total to 64. So it wasn't all bad for fans of the Reds' star. Also, Cincinnati won the game, 3-0.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Reds Announcer Had Perfect Response to Ump’s Terrible Call on Elly De La Cruz.
