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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

Umpire Junior Valentine narrowly missed out on a perfect game thanks to one bad call in the first inning

Royals

We’re often quick to point out when Major League umpires are bad at their jobs, and they deserve to be called out for those inexcusable mistakes. But at the same time, umpires deserve credit for a great showing.

And on Tuesday, umpire Junior Valentine came stunningly close to making some umpiring history.

Valentine was working behind the plate for the Royals’ game against the White Sox. And according to Umpire Scorecards, Valentine nearly became the second umpire to call a perfect game since accuracy tracking started. To date, the only perfect game was called by Pat Hoberg during the 2022 World Series. For Valentine, a clear bad call in the first inning was the difference.

Out of the 111 taken pitches in the game, Valentine called 110 of them correctly. His lone missed call was a strike to Salvador Perez in the first inning despite Seby Zavala setting up a target well off the plate on an 0-0 count.

I’m not sure how he can miss *that* call and then go perfect, but Valentine would probably want another chance at calling that pitch.

Still, it was an incredible night for the umpire, exceeding his previous best game of 98 percent (three missed calls) last season. Fans had to give Valentine recognition for the epic performance.

This was how Twitter reacted

Of course, with an automated strike zone, every game would be like this. But that’s not to take away from Junior’s night — he was great.

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