CHICAGO -- Benches and bullpens emptied in the third inning of a 9-8 victory for the Reds over the White Sox during Thursday’s series finale at Rate Field when White Sox starter Davis Martin hit Sal Stewart on the bill of the helmet.
Stewart took umbrage by motioning and moving toward the mound with some words toward Martin, indicating it was the second pitch in a row in that same general area. Martin’s pitch prior was high, inside and wild and went to the backstop, drawing a reaction from Stewart, who launched a Statcast-projected 419-foot home run with one out in the first.
But Martin immediately motioned to Stewart to show his lack of intent, and Stewart followed with a thumbs up although he sort of shook his head at the pitch. Martin had the same conciliatory reaction when he hit Stewart, but Stewart and the Reds weren’t agreeing in this instance.
“I can’t really tell you. You kind of black out a bit when they go up at your head,” Stewart said. “It happens. I know he apologized after the first one, and things happen. Maybe it slipped. But then the very next pitch came right back at my face. More than anything, it was just a scary moment.”
“It’s the first inning, home run, and then that happens shortly after. It’s just not good. I’m not a fan that it happened,” Martin said. “I wanted to attack the zone and get us back in the dugout, but trying to be on my best behavior knowing that I’m trying to stay in that game as well. I don’t want to do anything dumb to put my team in a bad position. That happened regardless.”
In both instances, with Martin employing four-seam fastballs, the right-hander was trying to go down and away to reset the at-bat for his breaking stuff. Martin developed a blister on his middle finger after the second inning, which might have affected his grip.
Alan Porter, the home-plate umpire and crew chief, ejected Martin after a brief meeting with the three other umpires following the hit by pitch. He took all the circumstances into account for the decision, as he explained to a pool reporter after the game.
“So, first inning, Stewart hit his home run and probably admired it a little too long at the plate,” Porter said. “And the next at-bat, he came up in the third. First pitch he threw a strike, and then the next pitch went well above his head, but definitely in his direction.
“Then he hit him with the next pitch. At that point we needed to do what we needed to do to keep the game safe, basically."
No warnings were issued before the ejection. No warnings were needed, with intentionally throwing at a batter being grounds for immediate removal.
“Judgment, reading the game, reading every situation that happens in the game,” Porter said. “And between the home run and back-to-back pitches over his head and in the face, I believe, that's really it."
“A little bit, yeah,” said Martin when asked if he was surprised by the ejection. “Just the no warning to straight ejection. But at the same time, you go up and in twice and it’s a dangerous spot. I understand it.”
By the time Cincinnati left a rainy Rate Field, Stewart had crossed home plate four times.
One day after supplying both of the Reds’ hits in a shutout loss, Stewart reached base four times, drove in two runs and combined with Tyler Stephenson and Eugenio Suárez to account for all nine RBIs. Stewart jumped on a hanging slider from Martin in the first inning and launched it into the left-field seats. Stephenson was then hit by a pitch before Suárez narrowly cleared the wall in left for a two-run homer, giving Cincinnati three runs before Chicago recorded its third out.
Suárez was hit by a Tanner McDougal pitch in the sixth, during McDougal’s Major League debut, forcing home a run. There was no issue at that point, but Suarez made his feelings known during the on-field fracas in the third.
“Even if you say you weren’t trying to hit him, it was obvious, and that’s why I went there. I’m not trying to fight anybody in this game. I was just trying to tell him it’s not right,” Suarez said. “If you want to hit somebody, hit him lower, on the body. Don’t hit him in the face or head because it’s dangerous. Nobody wants to lose a career because of a hit-by-pitch. That’s all I told him. It wasn’t right to do it.”
“That’s not how Davis plays; that’s not how we play. No intent,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “No. 1, I’m glad that Sal is OK, because that’s scary when you get hit up around the head, and I understand the position the umpires are in, but there's no intent.”