Fans in San Francisco were unhappy with a called strike against Giants’ left-handed slugger Joc Pederson on Saturday, and one individual from the stands made their thoughts abundantly clear.
During the weekend matinee against the rival Diamondbacks, Pederson saw the count evened up 2–2 on a questionable called strike from home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski.
A Giants fan could be overheard on the broadcast’s hot mic vehemently opposing the decision from the umpire, and the NBC Sports broadcast team couldn’t help but agree with the angry fan.
“That’s bulls---!” shouted the fan in the crowd.
“Well, I kind of agree with him,” said Duane Kuiper.
“Yeah, I can’t argue with him,” Mike Krukow added.
A fan got picked up on the hot mic voicing his... GREAT displeasure for a pitch called a strike at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 24, 2023
Duane Kuiper: "I kind of agree with them."
Mike Krukow: "I can't argue with them." pic.twitter.com/nWgJiGddoZ
While many broadcasters may have elected to ignore the comments that the hot mic picked up, Krukow and Kuiper played into the moment and even agreed with the fan’s assessment of the call.
Replay on the broadcast indicated that the pitch was well off the plate, something the eagle-eyed fan noticed from his seat. Nevertheless, the missed call didn’t slow down Pederson one bit.
On the play in question, Pederson ended up recording a triple and driving in a run to bring the Giants back to a one-run deficit against Arizona. He later came around to score on a game-tying sacrifice fly from Blake Sabol.
