If you were sitting near the third base dugout at PNC Park on Sunday and had an attentive look on your face at the right time, it’s possible that someone with the Pittsburgh Pirates was looking at you, wondering if you might be a competent manager for a while.
Because thanks to an ejection spree by home plate umpire Nic Lentz, the Pirates were low on options.
The Pirates were frustrated with the job Lentz was doing. Bryan Reynolds struck out looking on a pitch that the Pittsburgh bench thought was high. Cincinnati catcher then Luke Maile had a 1-2 and later 3-2 pitch called as balls despite being in a similar location, at least according to the Pirates.
Then, things got wild.
Because after Maile’s walk, Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton, pitching coach Oscar Marin and bench coach Don Kelly were all ejected. Pirates pitcher Ryan Borucki was yelling at the umpires, indicating that at least one of the coaching staff’s ejections should have gone to him, but to no avail. All three coaches got the thumb, leaving third base coach Mike Rabelo to manage the game.
These ejections definitely got baseball fans buzzing.
The Pirates were certainly wrong in their argument on the two pitches to Maile. Both were well out of the strike zone. That said, the one to Reynolds was, as well. So it’s easy to understand why they were frustrated. And inconsistency often frustrates teams more than bad calls.
[Justice delos Santos, Jomboy Media, Kevin Gorman]