In their first matchup against Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Urena since he threw at outfielder Ronald Acuña, the Atlanta Braves got their revenge early on Friday.
In the bottom of the second inning with two runners on, Braves starting pitcher Kevin Gausman threw behind Urena’s legs.
Gausman was immediately ejected from the game without any known prior warning given to either team before the game. Atlanta’s manager Brian Snitker immediately came out and started arguing over Gausman’s ejection, while the team’s broadcasters argued the retaliatory pitch was justified and the ejection was unfair.
While Gausman and the Braves will try and argue it was unintentional, but the location of the pitch was clear. What makes all of this worse, beyond Gausman’s ejection, is his decision to seek revenge with two runners already on and the top of the lineup set to come up behind Urena if he was hit by the pitch.
Gausman is likely looking at an ejection for this as MLB could either suspend him for two games, which New York Mets reliever Jacob Rhame received, or suspend him the standard five games for intentionally throwing at a better.