An umpiring blunder on Monday might not have cost the Fubon Guardians their CPBL home opener, but the league sent the official down to the minors.
The CPBL early yesterday afternoon said that umpire Yu Chih-chin has been demoted to its minor league for his mistaken call on an apparent sacrifice fly.
Yu was previously demoted in May 2020 after making two questionable calls in a game between the Uni-President Lions and the CTBC Brothers.
Photo: CNA
Monday’s blunder occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Guardians were leading the Wei Chuan Dragons 2-1. The Guardians’ Fan Kuo-chen drove home Wang Cheng-tang on a routine sacrifice fly to right field, but third-base umpire Yu called Wang out for leaving the base before the ball was caught.
However, a slow-motion replay quickly confirmed that Wang did not leave third base until after the ball hit right fielder Chen Pin-chieh’s glove, meaning that Yu’s call was wrong.
Although the league has instant replay, CPBL rules prevented the Guardians from using the system to challenge the call.
In the top of the eighth, the Dragons tied the game, but a walk-off single by Kao Kuo-hui in the bottom of the ninth clinched the win for the home team.
While the call ultimately did not cost the Guardians the game, captain Fan confronted Yu afterward to debate the call.
“I thought it was ridiculous,” Fan said. “If the call had been on the money, there would not have been a problem, but the replay did not back up the call. Umpires need to have credibility. If we had lost, how could we have played our upcoming games?”
Fan said he did not have an issue with the initial call, but became upset after seeing the replay in the next inning, and urged the league to investigate.
Wang was also unhappy with the call.
“[I was] really stunned and furious, shouting curses after returning to the dugout,” he said.
CPBL secretary-general Yang Ching-lung said the call was “a serious misjudgement,” adding that the league was reviewing and discussing it.
Guardians manager Qiu Chang-rong said that although he understands umpires have tough jobs, he has to stand behind his players.
“They [the umpires] always give the same answer, saying they will ‘deal with it in the future,’ but it would have been such a shame if we had lost the game today,” Qiu said.
The win was the Guardians’ first this season, after a tie against the Rakuten Monkeys in their opener on Sunday.
Also on Monday, the Brothers bagged their first win of the season, blanking the Lions 7-0 in the Lions’ season opener.
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