The Oakland Athletics extended their winning streak to six games on Monday with a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Included in that game was an ejection that, even for MLB umpire standards, was baffling.
With the Rays trailing 4-0, Tampa’s Isaac Paredes came to the plate in the sixth inning with one man on and one man out. Paredes took the first pitch from Oakland’s James Kaprielian for a strike.
After the pitch, Paredes readjusted his batting gloves. He didn’t seem to agree with the call but was hardly verbose about it, making a few comments about it. That was too much for Gonzalez to take and the home plate umpire ejected Paredes.
Isaac Paredes gets ejected for… something? pic.twitter.com/VM40JwrYOc
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 13, 2023
Umpires have been a source of a lot of frustration from fans in recent seasons. The calls they make are often spotty and the worst umpires are rarely made to answer for their mistakes.
In this instance, the pitch that Gonzalez called a strike wasn’t down the middle, but wasn’t much worse than a 50-50 call, either. But while baseball fans weren’t up in arms about Gonzalez’s call, they were frustrated with his thin skin.
Wait WHAT???
Isaac Paredes gets TOSSED for arguing balls and strikes!!
What's going on here? #RaysUp @953WDAE @JayAndZWDAE
— Jay Recher (@jayRecher) June 13, 2023
Hey @MLB. I get it, the umpire role IS one of the hardest roles in the game.
But this seems uncalled for. Thicker skin by blue, perhaps? https://t.co/E6B88OsBTh
— Sharat Chander | 🟧🟦 (@Sharat_Chander) June 13, 2023
Robot Umpires can’t come soon enough example Number 5,623,983 https://t.co/kg9mdQFCQ6
— Jay Ruff on YouTube▶️ (@JayRuffGaming) June 13, 2023
Great moment for all the people who came out to the game in Oakland to see Manny Gonzalez tonight, he came up big with an ejection of Isaac Paredes out of nowhere. Clutch performance, huge points in your umpire fantasy league, too.
— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) June 13, 2023
Can someone please give a confirmation on what Isaac Paredes got ejected for here? 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/NxnBv0FI9i
— Baseballer (@TheBsblr) June 13, 2023
Ultimately, what did Gonzalez do here? He created a conflict when one didn’t exist and then made the game about himself.
That’s not being a good umpire.
