New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was ejected late in Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees, and he had every right to be furious with the home plate umpire before it happened.
Mendoza was ejected after he expressed his displeasure with a called third strike in the ninth inning of the Mets’ game against the Yankees at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. The Mets were trailing 6-4 when catcher Luis Torrens took three straight pitches to lead off the inning and was called out on strikes.
Two of the pitches were clearly outside the strike zone. Mendoza was given a warning by home plate umpire John Bacon after the manager complained about the second strike. When the third strike was even further off the plate, Mendoza came out of the dugout and went ballistic.
Mendoza was immediately ejected. He kicked dirt on home plate and got his money’s worth by screaming at Bacon.
Carlos Mendoza has been ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire John Bacon pic.twitter.com/aJrDvmn4Ay
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 6, 2025
The first strike to Torrens caught the bottom of the zone. As you can see, the second and third strikes were not particularly close:
ARE WE SERIOUS????
— SleeperMets (@SleeperMets) July 6, 2025
In the 9th inning, both of these pitches need to be called the correct way. What is Luis Torrens supposed to do????
Horrendous umpiring, which leads to Carlos Mendoza being ejected. pic.twitter.com/l3LXilnqFL
The Mets wound up losing the game 6-4. Bacon essentially gave Torrens no chance to get on base by having such a wide strike zone in that at-bat, which is why Mendoza was irate.
There were a few tense moments during Sunday’s game. Yankees pitcher Max Fried, who got the win to help his team snap a six-game losing streak, also had words with Bacon early on (video here).
