Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker was ejected from his team’s game against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night, and the way it happened left many people scratching their heads.
The Blue Jays were frustrated with some calls from home plate umpire Malachi Moore early in their 9-1 loss to the Padres. Toronto starting pitcher Alek Manoah allowed two runs in the first inning and walked a batter with two outs in the second, which brought Walker out of the dugout for a mound visit.
The visit lasted long enough for Moore to stroll out to the mound and rush things along. As the umpire came up behind Walker, he apparently heard something he did not like. Moore then ejected Walker while Walker wasn’t even looking in his direction.
Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker has been ejected from tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/Rkylk7OwOI
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 18, 2023
The announcers seemed to think Walker went to the mound with the intention of sending a message to Moore. Still, many questioned whether it was appropriate for Moore to eject Walker while the ump was essentially eavesdropping on a conversation.
Manoah told reporters after the game that he heard nothing from Walker that should have warranted an ejection.
“I don’t think anything Pete said would have gotten you kicked out of a 10-year-old travel ballpark,” Manoah said, via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “I don’t know what he said before. I don’t know what the history is there. I really don’t know. I just know that he was talking to me and said, ‘There were a couple calls that didn’t go our way. Don’t worry about that. Keep pitching. I’ll handle everything else.’ Next thing you know, he was tossed.”
It seems like there was probably more to it than that. Moore had also warned the Blue Jays’ dugout twice prior to ejecting Walker.
Either way, that was an unusual sequence. We have seen countless manager ejections over the years, but we can’t remember one quite like that.
