Mike Matheny was ejected from Friday night’s Kansas City Royals-New York Yankees game for arguing a terrible call at third base.
Matheny’s Royals were trailing the Yankees 3-1 in the bottom of the second with one out and Bobby Witt Jr. on second. Witt decided to start stealing third base when Nestor Cortes came set and looked to the plate. Cortes stepped off, got Witt in a rundown, and threw to Gleyber Torres by second. Rather than throw the ball to third baseman DJ LeMahieu, Torres tried to chase down Witt himself. He dove into Witt at third base and pushed the Royals baserunner off the base. Third base umpire Manny Gonzalez call Witt out for not touching the base.
Matheny came out to argue the call and was ejected. He bumped two umpires, which likely contributed to his ejection. But he was absolutely right about the call.
Torres pushed Witt off the base, so he shouldn’t have been counted as out.
Adding insult to injury, the next two Royals batters both got hits, which could have tied the game at three. What a bad break for KC.
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