ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was ejected in the sixth inning of Thursday night's 4-2 loss after taking exception to a delayed replay request by the Royals. It was his first ejection since Sept. 18, 2015, and the first of a Cardinals player/coach this season.
Believing the sixth inning had ended with a double play, the Cards emptied the field and began to ready for the bottom half of the frame. Home-plate umpire and crew chief Mike Everitt did not stop anyone, either, as umpires typically do when a club indicates that it might want to call for a replay review.
In the stands, the in-game entertainment moved on to feature a dance-off between the two team mascots.
As that was happening, however, Royals manager Ned Yost requested the umpires take a closer look at whether the Cardinals actually had turned two. And after the review, the call was overturned. Salvador Perez was awarded first base.

Matheny emerged from the dugout immediately.
"Part of it is my guys have already gone off the field," Matheny said. "They're already getting their bats ready. They've already shut down mentally. I think that's the purpose for having some sort of guidelines [regarding teams alerting the umpires that they are considering a challenge]. With that being said, I wasn't happy it got to that point."
Shortly after beginning his argument with Everitt, Matheny was tossed.
"The umpire was quick to point out that if I had done the exact same thing he would give me the same courtesy," Matheny said. "But at that point, I wasn't interested in the courtesies. I was interested in what that was going to do to my team."
Matheny noted that frustration from the team's ragged play on Thursday may have also contributed to his exasperation with the delayed review.
"I lost it in a hurry with him," Matheny said. "I don't even remember what he said. I didn't like it. And I didn't like some of the things I was seeing, just like most of our team didn't like things we were seeing. It was a game of missed opportunities."