Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Max Muncy (33) was ejected for challenging an umpire’s ball call. He’s fed up with inconsistent calls.
After Muncy was hit by a pitch off Zach Flaherty in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 22, he complained to umpire Nick Lentz about the ball call.
According to MLB.com Gameday, a pitch low and away in the middle of the fourth inning was called a ball, and the very next pitch, a pitch five pitches later, was called the same height outside. Both pitches crossed the strike zone, but one was a ball and the next was a strike, which is inconsistent.
This confused Muncy, and he voiced his frustration. As he walked back to the dugout, he pointed his bat at third base umpire Paul Emmel, who had seen the play the day before, and then pointed at home plate. Emmel was ejected by the umpire.
According to local media, including the Los Angeles Times, after the game Muncy said, “The frustration that had been building all weekend came out. The previous pitch came in almost in the same spot, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a ball or a strike, but when the other catcher (Wilson Contreras) said ‘terrible call,’ they called the next pitch a strike. It was frustrating at that point, and it happened all weekend.” It was a complaint about inconsistent calls.
Muncy’s frustration with umpire calls had been building since his eighth-inning strikeout in the previous day’s game. When Emmel called Ryan Helmsley’s five-pitch low and outside for a strike, Muncy shook his head and threw his helmet off in frustration. Muncy homered on the first day of a four-game series against St. Louis, but it was his only hit and he struggled in the four games, going 1-for-12 with one walk and five strikeouts.
The Dodgers finished the four-game series against St. Louis with a 1-3 record, their first loss in nearly a month. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “It’s not a pleasant thing to lose a series. Let alone three out of four,” Roberts said of Muncy’s ejection, adding, “The ball call the night before had an impact. But the umpire made the right call to eject him. You can talk to the umpire, but the way he talked to the umpire yesterday, he deserved to be sent off.”스포츠토토
Muncy agreed: “I needed to be a little smarter about it. I said what I had to say at home plate and that’s it, but to do that to the third base umpire, that’s too much,” he said.
Muncy, who has 159 career home runs, is batting just 2-for-30 (143 at-bats) in 43 games this season, but he’s showing signs of life with 15 homers, 33 RBIs, a .538 slugging percentage and an .894 OPS. He is second in the majors in home runs behind only Pete Alonso (New York Mets-17).