First base umpire Dan Bellino did his job, checking Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner‘s hand just in case there were any foreign substances. It’s the new way in Major League Baseball.
It’s an annoyance for some pitchers, and Bumgarner was annoyed already. He’d not gotten a strike call on a couple of close pitches, and on top of that, surrendered a leadoff home run to Miami’s Jon Berti.
Only Bellino and Bumgarner know what was said between them, but the hand check was thorough, one could say. Maybe a little too much so for Bumgarner, who is known to display a fiery temperament every now and then. And he was ejected from the game after one inning of work.
Bellino said after the game that the reason for the ejection was profanity directed at an umpire. The Diamondbacks, without one of their best starting pitchers, went on to win a wild game at loanDepot Park, 8-7, and leave Florida with a three-game series sweep.
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“I know why I got thrown out, yes. But you guys (have) seen the video. I don’t know if I could say anything that would make the situation better,” Bumgarner said. “So what I’m gonna say is I’m extremely proud of our team coming back and winning because I put us in a big hole there. You know, obviously you didn’t go into the game with the intention of throwing one inning, and so for them to be able to fight, and everyone picked me up today for what happened. That’s pretty cool. Very proud.”
Bumgarner said he’d never had his hand checked in such a manner before.
“Well, I didn’t like it,” he said.
Bumgarner didn’t have much more to say about the ejection, other than he was not thrown out because of anything on his hand. He didn’t regret his reaction.
“Because, like I said, we’ve seen what happened, but it just shouldn’t happen,” he said.
“Well, there really wasn’t a conversation there, as the (MLB commissioner’s) report will note,” Bellino said of when he was checking Bumgarner’s hands. “He just made some inappropriate comments and was removed from the game.”
Bumgarner entered the game with a 1.17 earned run average, with his velocity back up and his cutter effective. The Diamondbacks ended up with the win, but fell behind 3-0 Wednesday without Bumgarner.
It was his second career ejection.
Bellino didn’t think Bumgarner took exception to his hand been checked. When he became angry, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo also got upset and began an argument with crew chief Adrian Johnson.
“Torey was trying to get an explanation of why he (Bumgarner) was ejected. I think he was reacting to Bumgarner’s reaction,” Johnson said.
Lovullo thought the ejection call was too quick, as in, a knee-jerk reaction.
Pitching coach Brent Strom and teammates had to hold back an irate Bumgarner, who eventually went into the dugout and into the clubhouse, where he watched the rest of the game.
“I got both sides of it. And obviously I’m going to believe my player,” Lovullo said.
Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Madison Bumgarner ejection a big moment in a game filled with them for D-Backs