Skip Schumaker avoids the Aaron Boone treatment as bench coach takes the fall

Home plate umpire Ben May seems to have learned from the past mistake of colleague Hunter Wendelstedt, who wrongly tossed New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone on Apr. 22 in response to a fan jawing from behind the dugout, marking the worst ejection in MLB history.

May was behind the plate for Tuesday's meeting between the Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins, finding himself in a similar predicament to the one Wendlestedt previously faced in the second inning. But this time, calmer heads prevailed.

After a pitch from Tigers right-hander Reese Olson appeared to land slightly outside of the strike zone only to see the call go in his favor, there was some chatter coming from the Marlins dugout, which led to May disqualifying Miami manager Skip Schumaker from the game for a brief moment before the two got into a spirited conversation about the misunderstanding to conclude that bench coach Luis Urueta should be the one held accountable.

Skip Schumaker avoids Aaron Boone-esque ejection, bench coach takes the fall

Schumaker was beside himself, and understandably so, considering the broadcast had the camera pointed toward the Marlins skipper -- literally saying nothing during the interaction. After calmly pleading his case to May and third base umpire/crew chief Dan Iassogna, the three concluded Urueta would take the fall as the guilty party.

"And it's been on tape now, right, with the Yankees situation. Managers know that they can say: 'I didn't say it. It was the guy with the nachos,'" play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti stated as the situation unfolded, suggesting that Boone has given managers an innovative new tactic to bypass getting tossed from a game.

"Somebody did it. We got to pick somebody," Benetti added as the umpires directed the ejection toward Urueta instead of Schumaker, highlighting how they appeared uncertain about the decision they made.

Watching Schumaker, Urueta, May and Iassogna was eerily reminiscent of the skit from I Think You Should Leave, when actor/comedian Tim Robinson drove his hot-dog-shaped car through the window of a building:

After the game, Schumaker detailed what happened to reporters, saying he didn't agree with some of the calls, and May told him that somebody has to leave. Plus, Schumaker said he was confused as to why Urueta was ejected, for what he claims was just for clapping in the dugout to get the players going.

"I think there was a couple of low balls that were called strikes that I wasn't really happy about, and I just wanted to let him know that those were balls that were being called strikes. I think he obviously took some offense to it and said 'you're out of here,' but he didn't pick a guy. So I just asked who, and he said 'pick a guy.' I wasn't going to pick a guy, so I was just kind of confused on how that works. So that was the kind of back-and-forth on what happened."

Alas, Schumaker remained in the game, which the Marlins narrowly escaped with a 1-0 victory. But it is nonetheless a noteworthy trend that a manager has gotten ejected (or almost ejected) from a game for something they didn't do/say twice in less than a one-month span.