PHOENIX — With two on, two outs and two strikes in the seventh, Madison Bumgarner took a pitch he felt was a ball. It was nearly four inches off the plate, per tracking data. Jerry Meals the home plate umpire, rung him up.
Bumgarner stood at the plate for a few seconds and politely disagreed with Meals, an umpire he said he likes and respects. He said what he needed to and then he got ready to return to the mound. Later, Bumgarner said it’s not a call he’ll lose sleep over, even though it was a pretty big one in a 2-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.