Derek Shelton started the day by having a discussion with MLB about how the pitch clock was handled by the umpire crew. He finished it watching the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Tampa Bay Rays in his office.
Shelton was ejected in the top of the fourth inning of Wednesday’s 8-1 loss at Tropicana Field after an argument with home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott and third base umpire Adrian Johnson over the pitch clock, one of baseball’s new rules changes this season.
Tempers flared quickly, given that Shelton took issue with the crew over the pitch clock and a balk that wasn’t called with runners on second and third base in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Rays.
“I had a disagreement with how the clock was being run,” Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “I had a disagreement with how the clock was being run yesterday. This is an issue that I discussed with MLB this morning, and I’m sure we’ll probably discuss it tomorrow. But I had an issue with how the clock was being run.”
With Ji Hwan Bae on first base after a bunt single, Shelton said the 30-second timer between batters should have been running. Instead, it was stopped when catcher Austin Hedges stepped to the plate. Shelton got into a shouting match with Wolcott, whose expletives could be heard on the telecast. Shelton ran out from the dugout and to third base. There he confronted Johnson, who was behind the plate the night before.
“I asked why it was stopped,” Shelton said. “The umpire disagreed with my assessment of it, and we had a conversation about it.”
Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, who took over for Shelton, drew a warning when Johnson pointed two fingers at his own eyes, then directed them to the visiting dugout, signaling he was watching the Pirates.
The ejection came at a critical juncture of the game. The Pirates were trailing the Rays, 3-1, when Bae laid down the two-out bunt single. After Shelton was tossed, Bae stole second base and advanced to third on Shane McClanahan’s wild pitch. Hedges struck out to end the scoring chance.
Shelton said he hadn’t had problems with the enforcement of the pitch clock prior to Wednesday’s game.
“I thought they’ve done a really good job of it this year. It’s been paid attention to. It’s been extremely consistent,” Shelton said. “That’s what I told MLB this morning: I thought it’s been consistent. I did not think it was consistent the last two days.”
