The Boston Red Sox managed to hold on to the lead on Tuesday night thanks in large part to their bullpen, which went nearly seven innings and didn't give up a run to the New York Mets. Boston was put in this position thanks to an umpire ejection of Walker Buehler, who stepped off the mound to argue balls and strikes with home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook. As crew chief Laz Diaz said after the game, stepping off the mound was ultimately what cost Buehler, and eventually his manager Alex Cora.
One call in question was to Juan Soto, who was walked on what should've been strike one. Red Sox beat reporter Ian Browne highlighted this. Buehler, unsurprisingly, wasn't thrilled with the call. Then, Francisco Lindor leaned into a pitch that eventually hit him in the foot. Lindor was still gifted a walk. Buehler stepped off the mound to scream at Estabrook, who had a quick hook as a result.
“It’s right down the [expletive] middle,” Buehler said from the mound.
“Get back on the mound!” Estabrook shouted back at Buehler. The Red Sox pitcher did not abide, and Estabrook wasn't up for a conversation.
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Why did Mike Estabrook eject Red Sox pitcher Walker Buehler and manager Alex Cora?
Estabrook was well within reason to eject Buehler. While the call was unfortunately incorrect, which won't reflect well on Estabrook as an umpire, that's the human element MLB and its players have signed up for. As for Cora, the Boston manager went out of the dugout in the first place hoping to get ejected in place of Buehler. We'll let him explain:
“I wasn't even paying attention [at first],” Cora said. “We were waiting for the call from Mikey on the replay, and then I looked up and he threw [Buehler] out. I was just begging, ‘Give me a break. I’ll go out and you can throw me out. We'll keep the pitcher in the game.’ But I guess he had enough.”
Diaz said Cora was ejected for what he told Estabrook specifically.
“Alex Cora told [Estabrook] that he was bad. He didn’t use those words. But he used some words to get ejected so he got ejected,” Diaz told a pool reporter.
All that being said, this goes back to Estabrook making the wrong call in the first place. While the ABS system is far from perfect, MLB tried it out in spring training and there was far less reason to argue over balls and strikes. The human element remains for much of the game, but over the course of a full season there are going to be plenty of bad decisions, and thus ejections of players and managers hard-working fans bought tickets to see. It's a bad look, and one that could be easily avoided.