Pitcher nearly throws ball in the dirt, but umpire Lance Barrett still called it a strike

Jordan Heck

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Pitcher nearly throws ball in the dirt, but umpire Lance Barrett still called it a strike image

Umpire Lance Barrett had one of the worst strike calls of the MLB season during Wednesday night's game between the Padres and Dodgers.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Padres pitcher Zach Davis was facing Dodgers batter Edwin Rios. The stakes were fairly low as the Dodgers were already holding on to a 2-0 lead, and there were two outs in the inning. But as Rios took Davis' first pitch, he was expecting Barrett to call a ball.

Instead, Barrett called a strike.

MORE: Max Kepler struck out despite pitcher not throwing any strikes

Even the Padres announcers in the videos were stunned at the strike call. The announcers also pointed out that the Dodgers' dugout could be heard criticizing Barrett after the call. 

"Thank you very much," one joked. "The Dodgers giving it to Lance Barrett and you can't blame them. ... There's low and then there's that."

MLB.com's strike zone as well as Baseball Savant's each show the pitch going well below the strike zone.

bad-strike-FTR

The terrible strike call ended up not affecting the game as Rios grounded out on the next pitch. And the Dodgers ended up scoring four more runs in the eighth inning, finishing with a 6-0 win.

Still, when strike calls are that poor, they deserve to be pointed out.

It's also worth pointing out Barrett had another bad call earlier in the game, although this one favored the Dodgers.

So, on the bright side, at least he was bad for both teams.

Jordan Heck

Jordan Heck Photo

Jordan Heck is a Social Media Producer at Sporting News. Before working here, he was a Digital Content Producer at The Indianapolis Star. He graduated with a degree from Indiana University.