Boston Red Sox star Andrew Benintendi and manager Alex Cora were ejected from Tuesday’s game against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday.
Benintendi was the first to get the thumb. His actions didn’t seem to warrant it, though.
After Benintendi was tossed, Cora came out to resume the argument. He was also shown the door.
So, what happened?
First off, there’s no way that Benintendi was arguing the play at first. It was not close.
What’s likely that he was bemoaning called a strike from earlier in the at-bat, probably with some colorful language (which he definitely used after the ejection). If that’s the case, these umpires really need to be ashamed.
Benintendi was walking off of the field, not holding the game up at all. He was also not making a particular show of the argument. This is basically the same thing that umpires hear from dugouts throughout a game. Every now and again, an umpire will eject someone from a dugout. Usually, though, that comes with a warning. That clearly did not happen here.
This was not an issue that required an ejection. This was an upset player. Did his language require a warning? For the sake of argument, let’s assume yes. Unless Benintendi was holding the game up, though, nothing more needed to be done.
Nobody comes to the game (or watches on TV) to see the umpires. We’ve heard that so often over the years, even decades, that it probably feels like a cliche. Unfortunately, between this and what happened between the Pirates and Braves on Monday, it clearly still needs to be said.