St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn was ejected from Friday’s Grapefruit League start against the Washington Nationals. No bonus points for correctly guessing which umpire tossed him.
Indeed, it was Ángel Hernández.
After struggling through the first two innings, Lynn took the mound for the third. He and Hernández quickly got into a debate, which led to Hernández sending Lynn to the showers.
Lynn later offered a gem of a quote, saying that Hernández was in “midseason form.”
Lance Lynn said he's just in spring training and umpire Angel Hernandez is in "midseason form."
More coming to @stltoday.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) March 9, 2024
The pitcher explained in more detail what happened.
“(Umpire Angel Hernandez) started chirping at the (Cards) dugout and I told him, ‘They know it was a strike.’ He told me, ‘Let’s go!’ And I told him, ‘I have five seconds on the pitch clock and I’ll start whenever I feel like it,'” he said, per John Denton, MLB.com. “I threw the next pitch and I was like, ‘There’s a strike!’ And then it was ‘see you later.'”
Lynn also explained that he went to the bullpen to finish his throws for the day and was ejected from there, as well.
More Lance Lynn on his third-inning ejection: "I threw the next pitch and I was like, 'There's a strike!' And then it was 'see you later.' … I went and got another 20 pitches in the bullpen, so I'm in a good spot. I guess I got ejected out of play, too, technically."
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 9, 2024
As is often the case, MLB fans and commentators had plenty to say about Hernández, as well.
Angel Hernandez threw lance lynn out the game in spring training?!?!! pic.twitter.com/CkzC7CLgyZ
— Dontrelle Willis (@DTrainMLB) March 9, 2024
How many of y'all saw that "Angel Hernandez" was trending and thought,
"Please God let it be that he's retiring"
"Please God let it be that he's retiring"
"Please God let it be that he's retiring"— Kenny 🚧 New Last Name Coming Soon! 🚧 (@baseball__etc) March 9, 2024
Angel Hernandez’s entire career makes way more sense when you remember that Satan used to be an angel https://t.co/woukU8REFb
— ░T░E░N░T░I░N░░Q░U░A░R░A░N░T░I░N░O░ (@TentyQuarantino) March 9, 2024
— Doug Dunn (@DougDunnEdS) March 9, 2024
Death. Taxes. Angel Hernandez. https://t.co/BAJfM95KAO
— Patrick Osborne (@PatrickONealSC) March 9, 2024
LOL the Angel Hernandez show. https://t.co/8zKq8mee2I
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) March 9, 2024
While fans have generally become more frustrated with MLB umpires in recent seasons, Ángel Hernández is in a class by himself.
[Derrick Goold on Twitter/X, John Denton on Twitter/X]
