MLB Umpire Had Announcers Shaking Their Heads Over So Many Bad Calls

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Major League Baseball umpire Ron Kulpa had a night to forget Tuesday in Minnesota as he missed a wild amount of calls while working home plate in the Twins' 9-1 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles.
Kulpa, whose struggles have been well documented before, had the announcers shaking their heads all night as he missed 18 calls. Here's a sampling of the announcers' reactions to those misses.
“Ohhhh that was called a strike but that was ball four.”
“That’s the fastball he took for ball one to begin the at bat.”
“Oh, he got that call. Fooled Ron Kulpa there.”
“He got a gift on a curveball.”
Here's video proof of his mistakes.
Umpire Ron Kulpa struggled in the Orioles Twins game missing 18 calls including 4 strikeouts.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) May 7, 2025
He had a correct call rate of only 88.2%. pic.twitter.com/q8GfnAdRVR
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli could be heard yelling at Kulpa during the seventh inning.
#MNTwins manager Rocco Baldelli gets into it with home plate umpire Ron Kulpa over balls & strikes in the 7th inning. pic.twitter.com/NNBK00qn2J
— Talkin' Twins (@TalkinTwins) May 7, 2025
Fans were also not impressed with Kulpa:
Ron Kulpa must have tickets to the Wolves game tonight. Buxton, Correa, and Lewis all victims of a very generous strike zone the last couple innings. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/0J4dEnxsjS
— ALBJ4 (@ALBJ4) May 7, 2025
Ron Kulpa you are very bad at your job
— RCCola (@RCCola1320) May 7, 2025
They are asking for the robot umpires! They are sabotaging themselves! This year has seen a lot of bad calls!
— luis lerebours (@LLerebours) May 7, 2025
Orioles' Coby Mayo was rung up by home plate umpire Ron Kulpa on this 3-2 pitch from Twins' Pablo López. pic.twitter.com/GhnqF4dHAu
— Matt Weyrich (@ByMattWeyrich) May 7, 2025
Not the best of nights for Ron Kulpa.
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Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.
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