Just three days removed from having six calls overturned via Major League Baseball’s Automated Ball-Strike challenge system, umpire CB Bucknor’s judgment was again called into question. This time, it involved a base hit and whether the runner actually touched first base.

He did.

In the bottom of the sixth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays, first baseman Jake Bauers reached on an infield single to second base. The throw from Rays second baseman Brandon Williamson never reached first baseman Jonathan Aranda, sailing wide right.

CB Bucknor strikes again, this time saying the runner did not touch first base. He very clearly did pic.twitter.com/zn6k9RtLXl

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 1, 2026

Bauers never made a move toward second base. Yet, he was still tagged by Aranda and called out because Bucknor mistakenly believed that Bauers never touched the first-base bag.

“I think that is a horrendous call. Where is C.B. Bucknor looking?” Brewers commentator Jeff Levering said on the broadcast.

Milwaukee challenged the call, and it was subsequently overturned. Bauers later came around and scored in the 6-2 win.

First base umpire CB Bucknor ruled Jake Bauers did not step on first base and was out.

Here are two stills of him stepping on the middle of the base. The call was promptly overturned. pic.twitter.com/WEv9O4UBds

— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) April 1, 2026

Replay review showed that Bauers’ right foot came down on the bag.

“I’m not sure what C.B. Bucknor’s looking at there. That’s ridiculous,” color commentator Bill Schroeder said.

It also appeared Bucknor was not directly looking at the play.

“That’s just a waste of time reviewing that,” Schroeder added.

As play resumed on the field, both Rays manager Kevin Cash and Brewers skipper Pat Murphy had a visible laugh, presumably at Bucknor’s expense.

“Yeah, grateful for that,” a smiling Bauers told reporters postgame of the replay review. “… I don’t know what happened. Just thankful to get on base and thankful to come around and score.”

The mishap at first followed eight pitch challenges initiated between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. Six of those calls were overturned, including back-to-back called strike threes against Reds slugger Eugenio Suárez.

“He has one job to do, it’s (to) call balls and strikes,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Saturday. “It wasn’t his best day. That’s what the system does. It’s out there, everybody sees it, and he’ll be the first one to accept it.”

Umpires with highest overturn rate

UmpireChallengesOverturnedOverturn PCT

Chad Whitson

7

7

100.0

C.B. Bucknor

8

6

75.0

Chris Segal

10

7

70.0

Tripp Gibson

6

4

66.7

Carlos Torres

7

4

57.1

Bucknor, a member of a major-league umpiring crew since 1999, graded out as the second-worst umpire by overturn rate during MLB’s first regular-season weekend with ABS. Only Chad Whitson graded out worse.

Wednesday’s series finale will be Bucknor’s first game behind the plate since Saturday.

“Oh I’m really excited for him to have the plate tomorrow,” Levering said.