CHICAGO -- Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson was ejected in the second inning of Monday night’s 11-2 win over the White Sox at Rate Field.
Pederson attempted to challenge a called strike three earlier in the frame, but home-plate umpire Chris Guccione denied him. Guccione then ejected Pederson during Evan Carter’s at-bat five batters later. Pederson appeared to say something to Guccione from the dugout that led to the ejection, though Pederson said he was banging bats in the dugout, not jawing at Guccione.
“I denied the challenge, Joc basically went back [to the dugout], he didn’t like it,” Guccione said. “That’s fine. Then we had the crew chief review of [Corey Seager's foul ball]. As we were listening to that, I heard somebody from the dugout, the Texas dugout, say, 'Hey Gucc.' I looked and it was Joc. He was like, ‘Hey, it was down.’ I’m like, ‘My bad. I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time. I’m sorry.’
“So then there were a couple of other challenges in there that happened. But at one point I guess Joc was still mad and had the bat, and he was banging it on the bat rack. I looked over there, I kind of peeked over to see who was banging on it, and it was him, so it was an ejection.”
Pederson said he was banging the bat rack, but not towards Guccione for any reason.
The Rangers and White Sox combined for three ABS challenges in the second inning. Pederson’s is the only attempt that was denied in that frame.
“[Guccione] just said [Pederson] was too late,” said Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. “It's such a gray area with this rule. This one is another one where some umpires grant it, some umpires don't, and that's why some guys get frustrated at times with the delay and if it’s granted or not.”
Guccione said he felt like the challenge was delayed enough that he felt comfortable denying it.
“I’m not counting in my head 'one, two ...,'” Guccione said. “I guess the theory is two seconds. I’m not thinking that. But honestly, it was -- I felt like it was delayed enough that I thought he was joking to begin with. I thought he was just being Joc, just kind of playing around. … Unless it’s egregious, I’m not going to deny somebody a challenge.”