Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected after a strange mound-visit ruling during Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Astros.
Baldelli was tossed from the game for vehemently arguing with the umpires. He felt he shouldn’t have been charged with a mound visit after benches cleared in the fifth inning.
Twins pitcher Aaron Sanchez grazed Jose Altuve with a pitch in the bottom of the fifth. The two players exchanged words, causing both benches to spill out onto the field.
After the game, Baldelli told reporters that he simply asked Sanchez if he was OK. Sanchez’s story lined up with his manager’s.
“Rocco went past the mound and looked at me and said, ‘Are you good?’ I said, ‘I’m good,’ and that was the end of the conversation,” Sanchez said, according to the Star Tribune. “It wasn’t like he really stopped. I don’t see how you can call it a mound visit when you still have 35 other people on the field.”
When Twins pitching coach Pete Maki made a visit to speak with Sanchez later that inning, the umpire informed Baldelli that the starting pitcher had to be removed from the game. According to MLB rules, two mound visits in a single inning triggers a forced removal of the pitcher.
Baldelli was completely unaware that he’d been charged for a mound visit during the previous bench-clearing event.
“At the bare minimum I think there’s probably it’s necessary for someone to come over and let us know that a visit was given,” Baldelli said, after the game. “So that’s it. I disagreed and I disagreed on multiple levels.”
The Twins ultimately lost the game 4-2.