Umpire Brian O'Nora missed a would-be, game-ending call before the D-backs flipped the game on the Royals

The Royals win that game if we had robot umps.

With Angel Hernandez done as an MLB umpire, baseball generally doesn’t have an active umpire with that kind of notoriety to pile on. But don’t get me wrong — there are still bad umpires working behind the plate in MLB games, and Brian O’Nora is among the worst of them.

The Royals experienced that in a big way on Wednesday night.

With Kansas City up a run with one on and one out in the ninth inning, Royals closer James McArthur should have gotten himself a 3-2 strikeout of Geraldo Perdomo. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was running on the pitch, and Salvador Perez’s throw to second was on the money. This should have been a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play to end the game.

There was just one problem: O’Nora called the pitch a ball.

Umpire Brian O'Nora called ball 4 on what should've been a strike 'em out throw 'em out to end the game.

Instead, the Diamondbacks went on to score 5 runs and win by 2.

O'Nora is ranked 86th of 88 umpires this season.#Royals #Diamondbacks pic.twitter.com/AKAoBpJyPq

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) July 25, 2024

So, instead of a Royals win, the Diamondbacks then had two runners on with one out. And they certainly took advantage of the new life. Gabriel Moreno hit the go-ahead double, and Ketel Marte blew the game open with a three-run home run. That would-be, 4-3 win for the Royals turned into an 8-6 D-backs win just like that.

In all, O’Nora had a below-average game behind the plate with a 93 percent accuracy. He ranks in the bottom 10 among all MLB umpires, according to Ump Scorecards.

Umpire: Brian O'Nora
Final: D-backs 8, Royals 6#Dbacks // #WelcomeToTheCity#AZvsKC // #KCvsAZ

More stats for this game https://t.co/S6cuPdCwdP pic.twitter.com/YPvIfoegBE

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) July 25, 2024

Royals fans were justifiably upset about the missed call. With robot umps, that would have been a win for Kansas City.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

Yeah, it sucks and cost the #Royals a win. Nothing can be done about it though. Robo umps can't get here quick enough. https://t.co/FRgUzCHI6u

— Shannon Johnson #NHLtoKC (@Ubernerd232) July 25, 2024

Ah the MLBUA blowing games https://t.co/UHnn51H35R

— Mike – Elon ruined the bird app (@MikeP0330) July 25, 2024

Wow. I actually feel bad for the Royals here. https://t.co/sY7jHuhHMn

— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) July 25, 2024

Brian o'Nora and the rest of his crew were dog shit in SF/Col series. Ball 4, would have been an easy strike him out threw him out to end the game. 5 runs later D-backs up 8-4. Yes McArthur needs to be better, but these guys need to be held accountable. Publicly. pic.twitter.com/vSLfnkLPbz

— Bob Romitti (@RobertRomitti) July 25, 2024

This O’Nora character owes me $1,050 https://t.co/ikY5cNnuyJ pic.twitter.com/ybH6Wvn6Xk

— Smoke the Books (@SmokeTheBooks) July 25, 2024