Showalter ejected in second inning vs. Blue Jays
Orioles' manager tossed for first time this season
TORONTO -- Orioles manager Buck Showlater was ejected in the second inning of Friday's 7-6 loss to the Blue Jays by home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez over a call the crew chief reversed.
Chris Davis led off the inning and swung through a two-strike pitch from Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey that catcher Josh Thole dropped, and Hernandez originally ruled a foul ball. Davis began running to first, believing he didn't make contact, which replays appeared to verify, but Davis stopped once Hernandez deemed it a foul ball.
Toronto manager John Gibbons came out to protest the call and Hernandez subsequently convened with the rest of the umpiring crew. After a brief discussion, Hernandez reversed the call and ruled Davis out on strikes, which sent Showalter running out of the dugout.
"He called a dead ball," Showalter said. "You can't have an out on a dead ball, that's pretty obvious. He called foul and the ball was rolling toward the on-deck circle."
Showalter argued with Hernandez for several minutes as the crowd at Rogers Centre got louder, before Showalter was ejected for the first time this season and 25th time in his career.
The skipper didn't elaborate on what the argument was about, because he didn't think it had an impact on the game, but he felt Hernandez and the crew could have handled the situation better.
"I asked him why Chris stopped, and I don't know if the umpires considered the fact that two wrongs don't make a right. That's not fair to Chris, because he stopped because [Hernandez] called dead ball. I asked them to reconvene again and be fair. The final ruling is just not fair to the Orioles."
Davis said his initial instinct was to sprint down the first-base line after he realized that Thole did not field the ball cleanly.
"I heard it hit a number of things and saw the ball off to my right and just started running," said Davis, who hit his Major League-leading 27th homer in the loss. "Any time [there is] a dropped third strike when you have two strikes, you are going to try to get to first."