Stephen Vogt Reacts To Controversial Strike Three Call on Guardians’ Estevan Florial

Bottom of the ninth, down by one, go ahead run on second base, and a full count. Those are the scenarios kids dream up in the backyard. However, those situations don’t usually end in a controversial called strike three that was clearly inside of the plate.

Unfortunately for Estevan Florial, that’s the reality he faced as the Cleveland Guardians fell 3-2 to the New York Yankees in game one of their doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. Home plate umpire Jordan Baker completely missed a game-altering call and the Guardians were on the losing side of it.

Check out the play here:

This was the first true controversial call that Stephen Vogt has been faced with since becoming a first-time manager. Here’s how reacted to the call immediately after the game:

"I haven't looked at it yet. I'm hearing that it was a little inside” said Vogt. “You know, Jose Trevino is one of the best back there. It’s unfortunate when that happens in that spot, but we had our opportunities before that and didn't capitalize.”

Vogt is absolutely right. The Guardians had their chances to score runs and they couldn’t convert. The team was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base. They need to take advantage of those opportunities if they want to beat teams like the Yankees.

However, this call was about as obvious as it gets. The pitch was clearly inside and should’ve been called a ball. Florial put together a tremendous at-bat and the way it ended wasn’t fair to him.

Vogt said late last week that it takes a lot for him to lose his cool. No one is saying he needed to go out and get tossed, but there is something to be said for sticking up for your guys in that spot and letting the home plate ump hear about it.  

Vogt is still learning. It’s just his four Major League series as a manager. But this would’ve been a perfect time for him to truly challenge an umpire and check that off the list of firsts.