JOHN Kruk was lost for words after a bizarre incident during a recent Philadelphia Phillies game.
The MLB legend, 62, lost his rag on air and branded the league a “circus” due to its new pitch-clock rules.
4
4
4
Kruk was calling the Phillies‘ game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
With the game tied at 5-5 in extra innings, there was drama in the 10th after an incident involving Arizona infielder Josh Rojas.
In a crucial at-bat, he was nearly called for not being engaged with the pitcher, but cleared by the umpires after lengthy discussions.
As play resumed, Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel prepared to throw on a 0-2 count.
But bizarrely he was hit with a pitch clock violation just seconds after umpires had restarted the game, moving the count from 0-2 to 1-2.
Up in the broadcasting booth, three-time MLB All-Star Kruk finally snapped.
He raged on air: “Ah dear cr*p almighty! What a joke!
“What a circus this game’s turned into! What the hell’s Kimbrel supposed to do?
“This is a joke. [Just] keep making up rules until no one knows what’s going on.”
And MLB fans seemed to widely agree with Kruk’s frustrations, taking to social media to vent.
One fan said: “I have no idea why they called a pitch clock violation on Kimbrel. He has 20 seconds with a runner on base. The ump puts his mask on to get behind the plate and almost immediately calls a violation.”
Another added: “Umpires need to be tactful about the new rules. This situation was treated absurdly.”
While a third sighed: “Ruining a great sport but they made it 30 minutes shorter so thats good?”
The Phillies rallied to take the game 6-5 following a walk-off hit from Alec Bohm.
But Kruk wasn’t done and continued to moan during his post-game interview with the home hero.
When asked about the incident, Bohm admitted: “I didn’t know what was going on the whole time.”
Kruk sighed in reply: “Alec, no one does, my friend. No one does.”
4
Leave a Reply