Announcers Left Stunned by Umpire's Blown Call to End Diamondbacks-Astros Game

In this story:
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.
More MLB on Sports Illustrated

Mike Kadlick is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the New England Patriots for WEEI sports radio in Boston and continues to do so for CLNS Media. He has a master's in public relations from Boston University. Kadlick is also an avid runner and a proud lover of all things pizza.
Follow mikekadlick