CHICAGO -- When White Sox designated hitter Matt Davidson connected on a 1-2 slider from A's closer Santiago Casilla with two outs and two on in the ninth inning of a 3-0 loss to Oakland on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field, manager Rick Renteria and shortstop Tim Anderson thought Davidson had tied the game with his 18th home run.
"I thought he did. It came off the bat pretty good and I thought, 'Here it is,'" Renteria said after Davidson's drive was caught on the warning track and the White Sox were shut out for the fifth time this season. "But obviously just a little short."
"We all jumped up and were excited," Anderson said. "But it kind of fell short."
Renteria and Anderson had to watch that last play, and much of the game, on television from the home clubhouse, because they both were ejected by home-plate umpire Jim Wolf in the fifth. The play in question saw Anderson tap a ball in front of the plate, which A's catcher Bruce Maxwell grabbed and tagged Anderson to record the second out.
Anderson hadn't moved out of the batter's box, thinking the ball was foul. And from here, it gets a little confusing based on Anderson's explanation for what led to the ejection.
"Yeah, I told him that it was foul, and his response was, 'I know, but he caught it,'" Anderson said. "And I told him that was BS, and he tossed me."
There was no challenge requested by the White Sox on the play. There also was nothing particularly demonstrative done by Anderson in the argument, although he might have said the magic word or two to earn his first career ejection on his 24th birthday.
"It was a birthday gift from him. I thank him for it," a smiling Anderson said. "I was walking away. But you know, you just got to learn from it and keep going. Just got to learn, if I say certain things to sensitive umpires."
The ejection of Anderson was followed by Renteria's argument and his ninth career ejection, as well as the second straight home game he was tossed. Renteria didn't want to go too deeply into the moment, but he thought the ejection was a bit quick in the heat of a close game.
"Just a normal baseball situation, and again, whether you are managing or playing or you think a play went a certain way and it's called a different way and you disagree, we should be allowed to be disagreeable without getting tossed," Renteria said. "Emotions go high for everybody, including the umpires.
"They are out there trying to do their job. But the players are the ones that should be deciding the fate of their club, and we all need to understand that the emotions that coaches and players experience should be weathered a little bit better."