A shouting match erupted Sunday between Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson and a home plate umpire that eventually saw Thomson ejected from the game.
The Phillies were playing the Orioles in Baltimore and were down 8-2 when batter Garrett Stubbs was seemingly hit by a pitch. The Phillies catcher was allowed to progress to first base—but the call was quickly reversed after umpire Mike Estabrook conferred with his colleagues.
That call sent Thomson onto the field, with NBC cameras capturing the moment as the conversation between Thomson and Estabrook spiraled into finger pointing and shouting until Estabrook eventually ejected Thomson from the game.
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The move just enraged Thomson even more, and throwing off his hat, he raged at Estabrook, who held his ground in return. As the pair were in each other’s faces, umpire Laz Diaz stepped in and walked Thomson back to the Phillies dugout. A replay ultimately concluded that Stubbs had not been hit by a pitch.
“The base umpires said they couldn’t see the ball hit his foot,” Thomson told NBC. “So I asked him, ‘You’re telling me that from 200 feet or 130 feet or however far it is you can tell whether the ball hit his foot or not?’
“So he told me, ‘Use your challenge.’ I said, ‘You’ve already awarded him first base. Why don’t you make them use their challenge?’ That was it, really. I didn’t quite understand the whole thing, but it is what it is.”
Stubbs told NBC the first thing he did after the game “was go up to him and say how much I appreciated it. It’s not just for me. In that moment, he’s doing it for the team, too. And it hit my foot. So the fact they took that away, that’s a runner on first base we don’t get.”
Baltimore eventually won 8-3.
