NEW YORK -- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch reached a boiling point during a 9-4 loss to the Mets at Citi Field on Thursday afternoon. He was ejected in the fourth inning after a play went against second baseman Gage Workman.
Workman was on second when Zach McKinstry hit a blooper to left field. The ball dropped in front of Mets left fielder MJ Melendez. Workman was unsure whether to advance to third or not, but decided to advance anyway and was thrown out by Melendez.
The Tigers asked for a review, and the call was upheld. Hinch came out of the dugout furious and was ejected by home-plate umpire Jordan Baker.
“They showed it on the scoreboard, which I think is the biggest in baseball,” Hinch said. “So if they are going to do that, I’m going to defend the team. [Baker] threw me out from the dugout. I didn’t say anything that I thought was worthy [of an ejection].
“Then I had to come out of the dugout, and I was very frustrated with it."
From his perspective, Hinch thought it was easy to tell from the dugout that the ball was going to drop in front of Melendez. From Workman’s viewpoint, on the other hand, it was a tough read. The ball went over his head, and he didn’t want to get doubled off at second base. Suddenly, it was a bang-bang play at third base.
“It was kind of a tweener ball there. I thought maybe with a slide, [Melendez] might have a chance to grab that one. I probably didn’t get off the base far enough as I should have,” Workman said. “The replay showed I got in there, but there might have been an angle we didn’t see. On the scoreboard, it looked like I was in there.”
With Hinch back in the clubhouse, George Lombard Sr. took over the managerial duties.