Jeopardy questionable ruling

 I know he wan't a particulary appealing contestant, as some saw him as young and brash, but I think he was robbed.  (I qualify this because I did not hear him speak his answer, but the only rationale for Jeopardy's decision is he must have over-enunciated his answer.)   His answer was in response to Vermeer's  painting of  "Girl With A Pearl Earring." He was ruled wrong because he said Girl With The Pearl Earring. 

  The word "a" is pronounced with the long a sound unless it is followed by a word beginning with a consonant and then is commonly pronounced "uh" as per the schwa pronunciation.   As in "Lend me a hand. I sat with a friend. Tell me a story.  Have a good day."  

Say  "girl with a pearl earring" , and then say  "girl with the pearl earring."  I don't know how they could have told the difference. They sound the same to me. But who am I to judge.