Jul 7, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) visits the mound to talk to pitcher Orion Kerkering (50) during the eighth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Ed Szczepanski
By the time the eighth inning of Tuesday's Phillies-Giants game ended, most Phillies fans were more excited to see Phil Cuzzi's Ump Scorecard the next morning than they were to actually see the game finish.
Cuzzi already wasn't having a good night; in the top of the fifth, he rung up Bryce Harper to end the inning on a pitch that was clearly above the zone. But it didn't stop there!
Both halves of Phil Cuzzi's eighth inning were ridiculously bad. With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the eighth, he called two strikes on Harper before a ball even got anywhere close to the zone. Then Cuzzi overcorrected in the bottom of the eighth, shrinking the strike zone to such an extreme degree that Orion Kerkering struck out Matt Chapman three times in a single at-bat, and the result of that at-bat was a single. That single eventually set up the Giants to score two runs in the inning and win the game 3-1. See for yourself.
Phil Cuzzi should never be allowed to umpire another game again. This is atrocious and completely unacceptable. #Phillies @MLBUA pic.twitter.com/1Vy97V5VBU
Well, Cuzzi's Umpire Scorecard is here, and it's exactly what you'd expect. Take a look:
Umpire: Phil Cuzzi
Final: Phillies 1, Giants 3#RingTheBell // #SFGiants#PHIvsSF // #SFvsPHI
More stats for this ump 👇https://t.co/uKEpYwV5Nr pic.twitter.com/myv6zobzjl
Holy Mother of God.
1.42 runs added for San Francisco. Yes, the Phillies did struggle with runners in scoring position, but 1.42 runs added in any direction is far too egregious to let it slide. Cuzzi called 15 taken pitches incorrectly, and if those pitches had been spread evenly among the two teams, perhaps it wouldn't be such a big deal. But those 15 incorrect pitch calls led directly to a Giants win. Even if it wasn't intentionally, Cuzzi effectively expanded the strike zone for the Phillies, and shrunk it for the Giants.
To make matters worse, according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the reason that no Phillies made a scene that would potentially get them thrown out of the game was because they "didn't want to risk Cuzzi holding it against them."
This is the third Phillies game Cuzzi has called this season. The first, on April 18, was also a Phillies-Giants game; Cuzzi favored the Phillies by 0.12 runs in that game. The next was the Cardinals at the Phillies on May 12, and Cuzzi favored the Cardinals by 0.53 runs.
Overall, before Tuesday, Cuzzi hadn't favored a team by more than 0.76 runs in 2025. Coincidentally, his calls that game also favored the Giants, although they ended up losing 3-1 to the Detroit Tigers on May 26.
Tuesday was Cuzzi's worst performance this season by a long shot. At 69 years old, he is the oldest active MLB umpire. Maybe it's time for him to hang it up.
