In a tense moment late in a tied game between Bay Area rivals, the A’s had the bases loaded with two outs in what could be their final game at the Coliseum. It was Blake Snell on the mound for the Giants, struggling to find the zone early in the at-bat. He missed on his first three pitches, with the third ball clearly high and outside. The 3-0 pitch looked just as bad, but the umpire called it a strike, baffling the A’s dugout. After that call, Snell found his rhythm and got the batter to ground out and end the inning.
The A’s were furious. Once the next inning began, the dugout had checked the video and saw the 3-0 pitch was well out of the zone. They let the umpire hear it, and manager Mark Kotsay got tossed. He stormed out of the dugout, yelling that the blown strike call cost them their best chance to score. Based on hot mic audio and lip reading, he told the ump, “I don’t give a [expletive] if it’s 3-0, it wasn’t even close.” It was clear frustration from a team battling not just the opponent, but what they saw as a blown call in a huge spot. As Kotsay made the long walk out of the Coliseum, the ump seemed unfazed. He kept calling high pitches strikes through the next inning, much to the annoyance of both teams.