The turning point in the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday was a sequence of calls in the sixth inning, eventually leading to the ejections of both Don Kelly and pitching coach Bill Murphy.
Toronto's Jesus Sanchez was at bat with two strikes in a 1-1 game when umpire Alan Porter called a ball on what the Pirates believed should have been strike three. Kelly appealed to first-base umpire Willie Traynor, who upheld the no-swing call:
It was a pretty awful call:
Here is the side view of the Jesus Sanchez check swing.
Paul Skenes didn't have much of an opinion of it afterward, saying he hadn't had a chance to watch it back yet.
"I thought he went, but I never argue those, because I have probably the worst view on the field of it," Skenes said. "I didn't hear, Henry (Davis), I don't think, reacted too harshly to it, and I didn't hear a ton out of the dugout. It's the same reason I don't challenge pitches, because I don't have the best view of it."
Sanchez then doubled, driving in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to give the Blue Jays the lead, which they quickly extended to 4-1 after RBIs from Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez.
When Davissignaled for a challenge of a called ball during the next at-bat by Lenyn Sosa, Porter initially missed Davis' clear signal. Murphy had some words for Porter from the dugout, leading to Porter ejecting Murphy with an audible "Get the f--- out of here":
Alan Porter just told Bill Murphy to "get the fuck out of here" after Porter initially missed Henry Davis' challenge (that he won) pic.twitter.com/WW44Q7CG59
Immediately after, Traynor ruled no swing on the same Sosa at bat. Kelly had words for Traynor from the dugout, and got himself ejected from the game too:
Pirates manager Don Kelly gets into it with the umpires and is ejected from the game 😳 pic.twitter.com/Oe6F1k8LS9
"Going back to the Sanchez at-bat, I thought we’re in a big moment right there with Paul in that inning," Kelly recalled of the sequence afterward. "I thought Sanchez had check swung and went, for sure, at that ball. I just felt like it was big moment in that game. Obviously, didn’t agree with the call."
THE ASYLUM
Kelly, Murphy ejected amid controversial sixth inning
The turning point in the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday was a sequence of calls in the sixth inning, eventually leading to the ejections of both Don Kelly and pitching coach Bill Murphy.
Toronto's Jesus Sanchez was at bat with two strikes in a 1-1 game when umpire Alan Porter called a ball on what the Pirates believed should have been strike three. Kelly appealed to first-base umpire Willie Traynor, who upheld the no-swing call:
It was a pretty awful call:
Paul Skenes didn't have much of an opinion of it afterward, saying he hadn't had a chance to watch it back yet.
"I thought he went, but I never argue those, because I have probably the worst view on the field of it," Skenes said. "I didn't hear, Henry (Davis), I don't think, reacted too harshly to it, and I didn't hear a ton out of the dugout. It's the same reason I don't challenge pitches, because I don't have the best view of it."
Sanchez then doubled, driving in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to give the Blue Jays the lead, which they quickly extended to 4-1 after RBIs from Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez.
When Davis signaled for a challenge of a called ball during the next at-bat by Lenyn Sosa, Porter initially missed Davis' clear signal. Murphy had some words for Porter from the dugout, leading to Porter ejecting Murphy with an audible "Get the f--- out of here":
Immediately after, Traynor ruled no swing on the same Sosa at bat. Kelly had words for Traynor from the dugout, and got himself ejected from the game too:
"Going back to the Sanchez at-bat, I thought we’re in a big moment right there with Paul in that inning," Kelly recalled of the sequence afterward. "I thought Sanchez had check swung and went, for sure, at that ball. I just felt like it was big moment in that game. Obviously, didn’t agree with the call."
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