Announcers rip umpire Phil Cuzzi for generous strike zone in Twins-Dodgers: "You've got to be better than that"

LOS ANGELES -- The Twins took the Dodgers to extra innings Monday night before losing on a walk, but the performance everyone's talking about is that of umpire Phil Cuzzi.

In the top of the 10th inning with the Twins' Alex Kirilloff at the plate and Dodgers pitcher Phil Bickford on the mound, Cuzzi's strike zone was, let's say, generous. 

The first strike was high and outside, then Kirilloff fouled for strike two. The called strike three whizzed inside, so much so that Kirilloff backed off the plate. Cuzzi, though, saw a clean strike. The Twins were leading 8-7 at the time and the bases were loaded.

"He never had a chance at that at-bat," Twins broadcaster Dick Bremer said. "In a key spot, you've got to be better than that. He had to reach across the plate."

READ MORE: St. Paul Saints play first home game with new automated strike zone

Lest you think this is Twins bias, even the Dodgers broadcasters acknowledged Cuzzi's generosity.  

Another blown call hurt the Twins earlier in the game, though Cuzzi wasn't at fault. With the game tied 6-6 in the eighth inning, the Dodgers' David Peralta hit a ball down the first baseline. The first base umpire called it fair, though video shows it was, at the very least, a close call. The hit scored Miguel Vargas, giving the Dodgers the lead.

Umpire Scorecards, a website that grades umps' performances on a number of criteria, said Cuzzi's performance favored the Dodgers to the tune of +1.39 runs. The top two most impactful calls of the evening, per Umpire Scorecards, were the called strikes against Kirilloff. Overall, the site said Cuzzi's called strikes were 85% accurate -- 10 of the 68 were true balls.

This, of course, is not the first time Cuzzi has drawn the ire of Twins fans. In game two of the 2009 American League Divisional Series, Cuzzi called an 11ith inning Joe Mauer hit to deep left field foul. Replay shows the ball hitting Melky Cabrera's glove before clearly landing fair. The Yankees would win in a walkoff later that inning.

On an unrelated note, the St. Paul Saints and the rest of the AAA teams this season began testing a new, automated strike zone. Cameras track the pitch, then send the data to a server, which sends the result of the pitch to the human umpire's headset, who makes the verbal call.

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