SEATTLE -- The Mariners’ 50 Seasons celebration began Saturday on an emotional high note.
Those feelings did not last, as by the end of the sixth inning of the Mariners’ game against 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 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, at which point the Mariners’ center fielder tapped his helmet to challenge the call.
But Jimenez ruled that Rodríguez had taken too long to challenge, and 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.
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. Rodríguez was not ejected.
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.