The Houston Astros won their fourth game in a row on Wednesday afternoon thanks, in part, to a brutal call by home plate umpire Brian Walsh.
With his team up 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, closer Josh Hader delivered a 3-2 pitch to Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte—one that was pretty clearly a ball and would have put runners on first and second. Walsh, however, saw it differently, and rung up Marte to give Houston the win.
Here's a look at the pitch:
Dbacks broadcast was disgusted by this called strike three to end the game pic.twitter.com/kPa7V1nt1W
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 23, 2025
Pretty clearly a ball.
As you can hear in the video, Arizona's broadcast team was left stunned by the home plate ump's call.
"Oh no. Oh no..." reacted Diamondbacks play-by-play announcer Steve Berthiaume. "That's a called strike three to end the game."
"[Hader's] slider was never in the strike zone," added analyst Bob Brenly. "Ever."
With the win, Houston improves to 60-42 while Arizona—losers of three-straight—drops to 50-53 and sits 5.5 games back in the National League wild-card race.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Announcers Left Stunned by Umpire's Blown Call to End Diamondbacks-Astros Game.
