After pitching just one inning during Wednesday’s game against the Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner was ejected when the first base umpire Dan Bellino checked his hand for possible foreign substances.
Upon being tossed, Bumgarner totally lost his mind and had to be restrained by teammates and coaches, calling names and clearly swearing at Bellino.
The whole interaction was odd, for the lack of a better word.
Marlins’ starter Elieser Hernandez wasn’t checked as thoroughly as Bumgarner, for starters.
But Bellino’s demeanor and attitude was weird when checking Bumgarner.
“A close-up of the interaction between umpire Dan Bellino and Madison Bumgarner right before the ejection,” The Athletic tweeted, with a video of the moment of the afternoon.
A close-up of the interaction between umpire Dan Bellino and Madison Bumgarner right before the ejection.
🎥 @BALLYSPORTSAZpic.twitter.com/Ii7RI64OOM
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) May 4, 2022
A Weird Moment In MLB
Bellino is feeling Bumgarner’s hand while looking at his eyes.
The pitcher is looking at his hand, and looks at the umpire’s eyes a couple of times, a bit confused.
Not shown in the clip is the part when Bumgarner is ejected and loses his cool.
It’s not clear if he felt some foreign substance, which MLB bans, but if he did, then he had the right to toss the pitcher.
But the whole scene is odd: it’s like the umpire was closely looking at any incriminatory gesture or sign from Bumgarner.
The D-Backs ended up winning 8-7 against the Marlins, but had to overtax their bullpen because of the early ejection.
We will have to wait until the player, the umpires, and the league gave their version of what happened on Wednesday to know more details.
At the moment, all we know is what you saw.
But Bumgarner could be disciplined by the league.
NEXT: Video Shows Why Madison Bumgarner Was So Angry Before His Ejection