Johnson ejected for first time this season
Manager came out to argue balls, strikes with home-plate umpire Winters
WASHINGTON -- Nationals manager Davey Johnson was ejected for the first time this season Thursday against the Pirates for arguing balls and strikes with home-plate umpire Mike Winters.
The Nats had the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth, and Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond struck out looking in consecutive at-bats. Desmond was fuming over his called third strike, which replays showed to be slightly outside. Johnson came out to argue with Winters and was promptly tossed from the game. Bench coach Randy Knorr took over.
After the game, Winters declined to comment on the ejection through a Nationals team spokesman.
Johnson has been ejected three times as manager of the Nationals. After Johnson's ejection, Denard Span grounded out to end the inning.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was also ejected in Thursday's game, when Pedro Alvarez was ruled to have rounded first base on a single and was tagged out by Adam LaRoche.
The Nationals were on the wrong end of a questionable call on Wednesday night, when umpire Laz Diaz ruled that Pirates second baseman Neil Walker tagged out Wilson Ramos to complete a game-ending double play. Ramos, Span and Johnson each insisted that Ramos wasn't tagged.