Pitcher Madison Bumgarner of the Arizona Diamondbacks was ejected from play Wednesday after a truly bizarre altercation with the umpire.
At the end of the first inning, first-base umpire Dan Bellino performed a foreign substance examination of Bumgarner’s hand which quickly escalated after a tacky inspection of the pitcher’s throwing hand. In the video below, you can watch the odd encounter which led to the 4-time All-Star being ejected.
A close-up of the interaction between umpire Dan Bellino and Madison Bumgarner right before the ejection.
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The umpire oddly rubs his hand and gave him an uncalled for dead-stare during the examination. From the looks of it it, it appears that Bellino already had his mind fixed on getting Bumgarner tossed from the game. Bumgarner was very irate by the shenanigans the umpire had pulled on him and had to be restrained by his coaches and other players after having some choice words for Bellino. (RELATED: ‘I Don’t Think It’s My Job’: Ryan Tannehill Expresses Zero Interest In Helping His New Backup)
It is unclear what was said during the hand check but it was certainly uncalled for.
The Diamondbacks went on to defeat the Marlins 8-7 after Arizona right-fielder, Pavin Smith, hit a go-ahead two-run homerun to give them the lead in the final inning capping off a series sweep of Miami.
After the game concluded, the manager of the Diamondbacks Torey Lovullo said, “I am so proud of these guys,” and, I think we were very emotional there in the very beginning. It was a great team win.”
It will be interesting to see if the MLB releases a statement in regards to the former World Series MVP getting ejected for seemingly nothing.