SF Giants broadcaster rips umpires after costly controversial ruling

San Francisco Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming tore into the umpires at Wednesday's game after what sure appeared to be a horrendously wrong ruling was the start of another late-inning collapse.

San Francisco led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh and was trying to stave off getting swept in Kansas City. Royals slugger Vinnie Pasquantino led off the inning with a liner to right and tried to stretch it into a double. As Giants shortstop Willy Adames received the throw, Pasquantino beat it to the bag but stumbled in his slide, falling off the bag for a moment. Adames threw a tag on him, but second base umpire Mike Estabrook ruled him safe.

From the dugout, Giants manager Tony Vitello put his hands up and signaled that he wanted to challenge the call. But Estabrook initially said a replay wasn't allowed, and NBC Sports Bay Area's cameras caught him making a pushing motion with his arm - indicating that Adames had pushed Pasquantino off the base, which would not be reviewable.

But Adames did not actually push Pasquantino at all, something Flemming pointed out during a vigorous protest of Estabrook's apparent call. Flemming initially said, "No," when he saw the signal and waited out an umpire meeting while Hunter Pence explained what happened. But when a replay showed the play again, Flemming let it rip.

"What are you talking about, Mike Estabrook, saying he pushed him?" Flemming said. When Pence asked whether Adames' tag was on Pasquantino as he fell off the bag, Flemming replied, "Now that part, I don't know. But don't start yelling at the Giants saying he pushed him when that was the play."

The umpires ended up standing by Estabrook's ruling, which Flemming called "absolutely ridiculous" and said was "one of the worst ones I've seen in a long time." He even said he would "lose his mind" if he were Vitello and end up ejected. But while Vitello mostly stayed calm, crew chief Lance Barrett did end up kicking him out - which only added to Flemming's ire.

"That's just a complete and total failure by the umpires," Flemming said. "Ridiculous."

The broadcast cameras caught Barrett telling Vitello, "I told you twice to stop," after the ejection. But after Barrett seemed to lecture the Giants over a checked-swing call on Tuesday night, Flemming fired back on the team's behalf at the crew chief.

"Lance Barrett acts like these players and managers are his children," Flemming said. "He talks to everybody like he's their boss. He did it last night, he's doing it again today. And Mike Estabrook, I saw it in real time. That is just absurd. I mean, that is absurd. Absurd." 

Of course, it did appear Pasquantino got back onto the base safely before Adames tagged him, so the replay review may have ended up keeping the call as-is. But the umpires not even letting the Giants challenge the play because of a phantom push is a fair criticism to levy. To make matters worse, the Giants completely collapsed after the controversial call.

Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer as the next batter, knocking starter Landen Roupp out of the game. (It'd be fair to wonder if the delay to argue the call and discuss it among the umpiring crew impacted the starter.) And once the Giants bullpen came in, the Royals tacked on three more runs in the seventh. Casey Schmitt hit a solo homer in the ninth, but Kansas City completed the sweep with a 5-4 win and sent the Giants to a season-worst 18 games under .500. 

Add it all up and it makes for an exasperating day in a season already overflowing with frustration.

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