The umpire who had the Phillies livid on Sunday…

The umpire who had the Phillies livid on Sunday actually had an amazing game behind the plate

If all you saw were two video clips from Sunday’s game between the Twins and Phillies, it would have been easy to assume that home plate umpire Alex MacKay had a terrible afternoon behind the plate.

Those clips didn’t tell the whole story because MacKay actually had his best game of the entire season.

The controversy came in the seventh inning when Mackay ruled that a would-be, bases-loaded walk was an inning-ending strikeout. He rung up Alec Bohm, who furiously spiked his bat, and Bohm was quickly ejected for the theatrics. The following inning, a borderline call on Bryce Harper had the Phillies star arguing with MacKay. Phillies manager Rob Thomson came out and was ejected.

Alec Bohm was just ejected after this strike-three call with the bases loaded 😳 pic.twitter.com/FPmKhfDbsB

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 13, 2023

Again, that all looked terrible. And given how upset the Phillies were, it would have been safe to guess that MacKay was in for a rough scorecard come Monday. About that …

Umpire: Alex MacKay
Final: Twins 3, Phillies 0#MNTwins // #RingTheBell #MINvsPHI // #PHIvsMIN

More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/isHylHqsLH pic.twitter.com/vqV8lklrWY

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) August 14, 2023

According to Umpire Scorecards, MacKay called 98 percent of taken pitches correctly. The missed call on Bohm was impactful (accounted for 1.57 runs almost by itself), but it was just one of three missed calls he had for the entire afternoon — 141 of 144 pitches were called accurately. And the third strike that Harper took issue with? It would have been a strike even with robot umps by catching the smallest sliver of the zone.

Out of the 13 games MacKay has worked behind the plate this season, Sunday was his best performance and only the second time he’s had fewer than five incorrect calls in a game.

It’s wild how that works. MLB fans were certainly surprised.

This was how Twitter reacted

https://t.co/hHU19k59eb pic.twitter.com/93zJ7ak9bP

— Absolutely Hammered (@AH_Pod) August 14, 2023

Basically the equivalent of getting every question on a test right except for one, but that question you missed was worth 20 points https://t.co/rcTwfdv3GM

— kyle (@kgeich) August 14, 2023

has there ever been one where an ump only "misses" 3 pitches but has this much of an influence in run favor? https://t.co/cRndrwhX9r

— Shelby Fabian (@bichon1200) August 14, 2023

This is the guy everyone was screaming about in Philly yesterday, saying he was terrible and can’t do the job and just wanted to be in the “ump show.” One of the highest rated games of the year. Modern popular discourse about umpires continues to not be even the least bit serious https://t.co/GepA6OWtJ1

— Pete the Kick Boy (@petedotowens) August 14, 2023

Dude missed just 3 of 144 calls, but missed the most important call of the game swinging it 1.57 runs towards the Twins.

Maybe we should finally have a ball/strike review system so games aren’t ruined by one call… https://t.co/nSG5H08fyg

— John Bollman (@JohnBollman11) August 14, 2023

The worst part about this is that he was actually extremely consistent and just blew the biggest pitch of the game https://t.co/dMtEjzr1Be

— philies pls win (@thosearenotboos) August 14, 2023

Shhhhh. Don't tell Phillies fans. He only missed three calls. 🤣 https://t.co/6QhHCJNR25

— TexasTwinsfan (@TXTwinsfan) August 14, 2023

Love the replies here. Did the ump miss the biggest strike call of the game? Yeah. But Phillies fans in the comments clearly don't know how strike zones work (or that the broadcast boxes are approximations). https://t.co/uHnFY2H7Ud

— Matthew Pennertz (@THERokTikiTiki) August 14, 2023

98% accuracy is really good until you realize the 2% happened at the most crucial point of the game https://t.co/RLcCBsKHwl

— David Gough (@DGough94) August 14, 2023