C.B. Bucknor is one of those umpires who players hate to see working behind the plate. They know to expect a wildly inconsistent strike zone, and on top of that, Bucknor struggles with even the most basic umpiring duties.
That kind of incompetence can send a game off the rails, and Saturday’s matchup between the Rays and Guardians was a prime example of that. It was an all-around terrible night for Bucknor.
In addition to calling balls and strikes, the home plate umpire is tasked with enforcing the pitch clock. But in the bottom of the fifth inning, the pitch clock didn’t restart. Of course, Bucknor didn’t notice that.
Umpire C.B. Bucknor forgot to reset the pitch clock after a #Guardians batter timeout, called a clock violation on the #Rays, and ejected Kevin Cash.
The batter wasn't ready to hit until 2 seconds were left and Bucknor still called a pitch violation on the Rays.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) September 3, 2023
Now, instead of calling the violation on the batter Andres Gimenez who wasn’t alert to the pitcher at the 8-second mark, Bucknor called the pitch clock violation on the Rays. When Rays manager Kevin Cash tried to argue that the pitch clock wasn’t reset for that pitch, Bucknor didn’t confer with the rest of the crew. Instead he argued with Cash and ultimately ejected the Rays manager.
That lack of concentration from Bucknor would continue in the following inning when he lost track of the count and rung up Bo Naylor on a 2-1 pitch.
C.B. Bucknor calls a strikeout on a 2-1 pitch pic.twitter.com/6Ohu3z7dL4
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 3, 2023
It was Naylor who had to inform Bucknor that the pitch was just the second strike. Like, how is this happening in a big-league game? It’s unacceptable.
Bucknor’s overall accuracy was atrocious too as he spent much of the night calling strikes on pitches around the left-handed batter’s box.
c.b. bucknor is amazing pic.twitter.com/BGAflG8ZFp
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 2, 2023
This scorecard is hilarious:
Umpire: CB Bucknor
Final in 11: Rays 6, Guardians 7#RaysUp // #ForTheLand#TBvsCLE // #CLEvsTBMore stats for this game 👇https://t.co/qwyl5zQ0TL pic.twitter.com/Z4phTlrhm0
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) September 3, 2023
How does that even happen? We already know that MLB does almost nothing to hold umpires accountable after poor performances, but Bucknor’s night was dreadful in every facet. You can’t blame MLB fans for wanting to see something done about that.
This was how Twitter reacted
Why don’t umpires that are consistently bad get sent down to AAA until they can demonstrate that they’ve improved? That seems like a fair way to hold these guys accountable without just firing them. https://t.co/5tTRd3TDb6
— Zach (@PhenoMVP) September 3, 2023
Imagine you showed up on time to work 90% of the time
Imagine if you crashed the company vehicle 10% of the time
Imagine if you messed up someone's order 10% of the time
Imagine if 10% of your customers got mad and cussed you out
You'd lose your job. Quickly. https://t.co/XX5g0m3I8J
— Nick (@NickBallKnower) September 3, 2023
CB Buckner should be sent home for the season after this performance. He also messed up the pitch clock, then ejected Kevin Cash for complaining about it. https://t.co/Jen6CRY1dm
— Alan (@MasonFanatic) September 3, 2023
Maybe if we didn’t set our eyes over the RH batters box and actually looked over the plate we would call a cleaner game. https://t.co/bhOZuvrR6l pic.twitter.com/SfYVLFit4n
— Jeff (@FejSkaz_) September 3, 2023
Maybe the most unabashed gifting a win to one team I’ve ever seen. And ump union will make sure this is never addressed or fixed https://t.co/bDoHYRAoBr
— Really Big Randy Glove (@Im_Swirlin) September 3, 2023
This isn’t bad. It’s sad. https://t.co/wtRBdccZyx
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) September 3, 2023
Bo Naylor and Logan Allen masterclass on how to leverage human umpiring. https://t.co/1Iu1iIAXKe
— michael bode (@mgbode_WFNY) September 3, 2023
Directly into the sun https://t.co/d0QYi5hRTK
— commissioner shayla (I tried) (@shaylarz) September 3, 2023
Baseball is awesome in that they’d rather totally change the way the game is seen via robo umps rather than just get rid of the umpires we know aren’t good. Bucknor has been bad his entire career. Stop sending him out there. There are good umpires. Just get rid of the boys club https://t.co/dcGuBshUU8
— Mr J (@aesposito1) September 3, 2023
+1.26 runs for Cleveland, they win by 1 run. If you ever say "umps don't decide games, players do" you're clearly not paying attention. https://t.co/MUmFjiA4Pd
— Jeremy Wick (@jeremywick) September 3, 2023
Truly one of the few generational talents in the sport https://t.co/UKIZS9gbtV
— Junior Caminero Disciple (@RandylandSZN) September 3, 2023
So the Rays lost to CB Bucknor, not the Guardians. https://t.co/MQMa6Zn1x0
— Taylor Jennings (@TayVictoria8) September 3, 2023
