Wilson tossed for the 2nd time in 4 games as frustration mounts in Seattle

SEATTLE -- The Mariners’ 50 Seasons celebration began Saturday on an emotional high note welcoming back 44 of the club’s most prolific players and honoring its iconic radio voice of over 40 decades with a spot in the organization’s Hall of Fame.

Those good feelings did not last, as by the end of the sixth inning of the Mariners’ 3-2 loss to the Rays, T-Mobile Park was echoing with a chorus of boos over a sequence that led to manager Dan Wilson’s second ejection in four games.

The controversial moment in question came with Julio Rodríguez at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, when Steven Matz fired a 93.3 mph sinker at the top of the zone. Home plate umpire Emil Jimenez took a step back before ringing Rodríguez up to end the inning, and the Mariners’ center fielder tapped his helmet to challenge the call.

But Jimenez ruled that Rodríguez had taken too long to challenge, at which point the Mariners’ dugout exploded.

According to the guidelines instituted this year regarding the ABS Challenge System, “Challenges must be made immediately after the umpire’s call, without assistance from the dugout or other players.”

Rodríguez didn't appear to get any help from the dugout, and replays showed he tapped his helmet as Jimenez was finishing the pronounced punchout call umpires typically employ for a called strike three.

Rodríguez didn't appear to get any help from the dugout, and replays showed he tapped his helmet as Jimenez was finishing the pronounced punchout call umpires typically employ for a called strike three.

“I didn’t agree with the assessment that Emil had,” Wilson said. “We didn’t see eye to eye on that. I thought Julio had plenty of time to make that call and went to his helmet in time. But he didn’t agree.”

Wilson ran out to confront Jimenez and get his words in, and after a brief argument, was tossed for the third time in his managerial career. Josh Naylor and bench coach Manny Acta separated Rodríguez from the situation before he could be ejected as well.

That moment set the crowd a T-Mobile Park off, and the boos toward Jimenez only got louder the next frame, when Jonathan Aranda was granted a challenge with the help of third-base umpire and crew chief Doug Eddings after Jimenez didn’t notice Aranda’s helmet tap. The fans, who have watched the Mariners drop five of their past six with a grand total of five runs scored, continued to voice their displeasure well into the ensuing innings.

The Rays took the lead in the inning directly preceding the controversial call, scoring two runs off reliever Michael Rucker in the top of the sixth to make it 3-1. Naylor trimmed the deficit to one run in the seventh with his second home run of the game, but that was all the offense could manage.

“This was a tough one, for sure,” Wilson said. “I thought the guys fought until the end. The energy in the ballpark from the fans, they kept everything going. This was a tough one, for sure. But we’ve got to keep rolling, we’ve got to keep adjusting. We’ve got to come back tomorrow and get one before we get out of town.”

Wilson’s gotten more experience being tossed this week than the first 300 games of his tenure at the helm for Seattle. The Mariners’ skipper was ejected Wednesday against the Tigers as well, in the aftermath of a brouhaha that followed the games’ sixth hit batter.

Gabe Speier -- whose plunking of Gleyber Torres was what ultimately cleared the benches -- was also tossed, and given a three-game suspension. He appealed that suspension; it was reduced to two games, which he began serving Saturday.

Wilson, meanwhile, served a one-game suspension Thursday for the matter, and returned for Friday’s series-opener against Tampa Bay. It’s the first time a Seattle manager has been ejected twice in such a short span since Lloyd McClendon was tossed from back-to-back games in Detroit on Aug. 16 and 17, 2014.