Arizona Diamondbacks veteran pitcher Madison Bumgarner was in the middle of a heated argument with the umpires on Wednesday, when he was tossed from his start after pitching just one inning.
The umpire took a look at his pitching hand and, after touching it and analyzing it for a few seconds, decided to toss him.
At that point, Bumgarner exploded, and things got ugly.
He had to be held back by manager Torey Lovullo, coaches, and teammates, because he was as angry as we have seen him get on a baseball field; and it wasn’t the first time we see him lose his temper.
“There’s going to be a whole lot of discussion about what just happened in the Diamondbacks’ game: Madison Bumgarner ejected after words were exchanged during the usual check of his hands for a foreign substance,” MLB insider Buster Olney tweeted this afternoon.
There’s going to be a whole lot of discussion about what just happened in the Diamondbacks’ game: Madison Bumgarner ejected after words were exchanged during the usual check of his hands for a foreign substance.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) May 4, 2022
Dan Haren Thinks Bellino Was Targeting Bumgarner
Former MLB pitcher Dan Haren had his take on what happened.
“Was completely instigated by Dan Bellino, was staring at Bum until he looked at Bellino in the eyes. Wanted to throw him out. He was targeted, Bellino needs to be disciplined. Complete BS,” he tweeted.
Was completely instigated by Dan Bellino, was staring at Bum until he looked at Bellino in the eyes. Wanted to throw him out. He was targeted, Bellino needs to be disciplined. Complete BS
— dan haren (@ithrow88) May 4, 2022
For reference, Dan Bellino is the first base umpire in the game, and the one who interacted with Bumgarner in the ugly episode.
As a reminder, MLB started to crack down on pitchers using foreign substances on the ball.
Most of them did it to get a better grip on the ball, but it has other effects, such as the increase in spin rate, which helps pitcher.
This will be a hot subject for days to come.
