Don Kelly got to live out every MLB manager’s dream this week — cursing out Laz Diaz.
The Pittsburgh Pirates played Wednesday against the division rival St. Louis Cardinals. In the seventh inning at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pa., Pirates outfielder Ryan O’Hearn was called out on strikes off a checked swing.
Diaz was the umpire behind the plate and pointed to third base umpire Erich Bacchus to make the call. When Bacchus rung up O’Hearn, the Pirates manager Kelly was incensed and took out his anger on Diaz.
Kelly was seen yelling, “Don’t f–king look at me” to Diaz before coming out of the dugout to get up into Diaz’s face with more expletives. Here is the video.
Epic point off between Pirates manager Don Kelly and umpire Laz Diaz somehow does not end in an ejection pic.twitter.com/2f4hiICUmK
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 30, 2026
Impressively enough, Diaz did not eject Kelly for that display of rage. It did not matter for the Pirates in the end though as they still went on to lose to the Cardinals by a final score of 5-4.
Diaz has long been regarded as one of MLB’s most unpopular umpires and was recently even booed by fans during a spring training game. But that was a commendable display of restraint by Diaz on Wednesday to not send Kelly to the showers for that midgame crashout.
