Umpire Bill Miller missed a close call at home plate during Friday’s game between the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox. And thanks to a hot mic after he announced that the call was overturned, we know that Miller was not happy about it.
The play in question happened in the bottom of the eighth inning of Friday night’s game. With the speedy Jarren Duran at first base, Boston’s Rafael Devers hit a ball into the right-center field gap. Duran raced around the bases and appeared to score when Miller ruled that he narrowly beat the tag of catcher Ryan Jeffers. The Twins, though, challenged the play and replay showed that catcher Ryan Jeffers applied the tag just before Duran touched the plate.
Miller made the announcement.
“After review, the call on the field is overturned,” Miller said. “The runner is out. Minnesota retains.”
As the NESN broadcast went to commercial, some fans at Fenway Park were shown booing the play. Then, we heard another sound.
“Fuck,” Miller was heard saying into the hot mic. After a few more seconds, the umpire continued. “Fucking saw that, too. God damn it.”
It’s actually nice to hear that kind of accountability from an umpire following a missed call. We’ve certainly seen umpires dig in deeper on worse calls than that.