Umpire Ángel Hernandez gets the spotlight in Brewers-Phillies game on ESPN, and Twitter had some thoughts

Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber reacts after striking out against Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Eric Lauer during the sixth inning Sunday.

Home-plate umpire Ángel Hernandez has developed a reputation on social media for … well, missing a few calls here and there. On Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, he wound up taking the spotlight in Milwaukee’s tense 1-0 win over Philadelphia, with an erratic strike zone that appeared to bother both teams, and tensions boiled over in the ninth.

Hernandez called Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber out on strikes in the ninth inning against Josh Hader, on a 3-2 pitch that looked low and outside. Schwarber reacted by throwing his bat and helmet, prompting a quick ejection, and he continued with a demonstrative discussion.

The out was the second of the ninth as Hader worked a 1-2-3 inning to cap off a 5-1 week of baseball for the Brewers. Hader’s reaction after popping off the mound kind of says it all.

“It was a consistently big zone,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It was just a little big in a lot of areas. I think Schwarber said it was big on both sides and there was bound to be somebody upset when its like that.”

Said Brewers catcher Omar Narváez: “Everybody saw the game and everybody saw that he was at least consistent for both teams. I’m not gonna say he was good because he wasn’t, but at least he was consistent for both teams. Sometimes you just gotta adjust and not leave the decision to the umpire.”

Andrew McCutchen, who also reacted to a Hernandez strike-three call earlier in the night, was asked after the game on the ESPN broadcast if Schwarber was somewhat speaking for everyone with the outburst, and McCutchen implied agreement with Schwarber over his frustration with Hernandez.

“The game is already hard as it is,” McCutchen said. “When it comes to games like this, you just try to stay within yourself … but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to be better than that.

“We knew what we were gonna get going into the game. You’ve just got to battle as much as possible.

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“At the end of the day you’ve got to be ready for your pitch, especially that first strike. Very seldom are you going to get pitches, all three, out of the zone. You have to wait for that one and don’t miss it.”

Twitter had plenty of responses to Hernandez, and not just for the call in the ninth.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Umpire Ángel Hernandez draws ire of Schwarber in confrontation