TORONTO -- The Blue Jays likely won't be sending any Happy Canada Day cards to home-plate umpire Vic Carapazza any time soon.
Carapazza ejected Edwin Encarnacion, John Gibbons and Russell Martin at various points during Friday's 2-1 loss to the Indians. All three were tossed for taking issue with Carapazza's strike zone and arguing balls and strikes.
Encarnacion and Gibbons were both ejected in the first inning of the game. Martin was sent packing after he struck out looking in the 13th inning of a game that ended up taking 19 innings to play. In all three cases, Toronto felt like Carapazza overreacted.
"It's tough as a player when the umpire makes a mistake, you say your piece about it and then you get thrown out for being right," Martin said. "It's tough. I think umpires just need to sometimes take a deep breath and not flip the switch to quick.
"Eddy didn't really need to get thrown out in that situation either. Hopefully he gets talked too and the veteran umpires kind of tell him that there's a certain way to do things, but we'll see. It's over so, can't do anything now."
Encarnacion took a pitch from right-hander Josh Tomlin and felt it was off the plate, but Carapazza clearly disagreed. The 33-year-old dropped his bat and threw his hands into the air after Carapazza indicated it was strike three. The two exchanged words, and then Encarnacion was quickly ejected for the first time this season.
When Carapazza tossed Encarnacion, the designated hitter quickly turned back to continue his argument. During the verbal disagreement, Encarnacion appeared to bump Carapazza with his chest, which could lead to potential disciplinary action from Major League Baseball.
Gibbons ran onto the field to protect his star player, but by the time he arrived, it was too late. Encarnacion had been ejected, and Gibbons quickly followed suit as Carapazza tossed him from the game as well. It was the sixth time this season that Gibbons has been ejected from a game.
"It was an emotional game," bench coach DeMarlo Hale said. "I'm not going to comment. My job was to manage the players that were there ... and I'm going to leave it at that."
Martin then had the most heated argument of all in the bottom of the 13th inning. The veteran catcher took exception to a called third strike and had several words for Carapazza as he was walking off the field.
Carapazza didn't give Martin much leeway and quickly an ejection followed. After the game, Martin said his biggest beef about the ejection was that he didn't personally attack Carapazza and he was already on his way off the field.
"I told him the first curveball, I had that pitch being away," Martin said. "And then he said, 'I don't want to hear it.' And then I was like, 'Well it's still away.' And as I'm walking away he threw me out of the game.
"I wasn't being aggressive. I felt like he really didn't have to throw me out in that situation, but maybe just the way the game was going on; I guess he was just tired of being talked at or what not."