Umpire reversed on three replays

Angel Hernandez hit .250 in Game 3 of the America League Division Series. That’s a mediocre batting average for a player and an awful replay average for an umpire.

Hernandez was overruled on three of four video reviews of his decisions at first base during Boston’s 16-1 rout of the New York Yankees on Monday night.

“There were several very close calls at first base tonight, and we are glad that instant replay allowed the umpiring crew to achieve the proper result on all of them,” Major League Baseball said in a statement. The Red Sox, Yankees and baseball fans were to see plenty of Hernandez on Tuesday night; he was scheduled to work the plate in Game 4.

The 57-year-old Hernandez. who was born in Havana, joined the major-league umpiring crew in 1993 and worked the World Series in 2002 and again in 2005.

He sued Major League Baseball in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in July 2017, alleging race discrimination and citing his lack of World Series assignments in the past decade and baseball not promoting him to be a crew chief.

The suit alleges MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre “has a history of animosity toward Hernandez stemming from Torre’s time as manager of the New York Yankees.” MLB moved to dismiss the case, but U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett transferred it to federal court in New York on Sept. 30 without ruling on the motion to dismiss.

“Angel was horrible,” Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez said on TBS’s post-game show.

“Major League Baseball needs to do something about Angel. It doesn’t matter how many times he sues Major League Baseball. He’s as bad as there is. That’s the main reason we’re sitting here so late.”

Expanded video review in the major leagues began in 2014.

Hernandez has had first-base calls overturned in14 of18 video reviews during the last three regular seasons, according to Sports Info Solutions, and his 78-per-cent overturn rate was above the 60-per-cent overall figure for first-base calls during that span, the company said.

“The guy’s had a long career and a good career. You know he’s going to get it right,” the Yankees’ Luke Voit said in an interview after the game.

“It happens, man. I mean, so many bang-bang plays consistently.

“You get it, and you just hope he makes the right calls.”