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

Andy Nesbitt | May 7, 2025

Ron Kulpa was not at his best on Tuesday night. / @MLB

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.

He had a correct call rate of only 88.2%. pic.twitter.com/q8GfnAdRVR

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) May 7, 2025

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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