The most drama out of Cleveland’s clinical, record-breaking win today came when some hot-tempered Tigers were tossed from the game, and when the Indians’ broadcast booth suggested that one of Detroit’s pitchers retaliated by hitting the umpire.
With Cleveland leading 4-1 in the third inning, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and catcher James McCann were both ejected by umpire Quinn Wolcott for arguing balls and strikes. In the very same inning, with John Hicks now catching, Tigers starter Buck Farmer threw a fastball inside to Yandy Díaz. The ball missed Hicks’s glove and hit Wolcott in the chest.
“That might raise some eyebrows,” Indians play-by-play man Matt Underwood said after Walcott went down.
After the game, Ausmus took exception to the idea that he wanted an ump punished for a bad strike zone:
Farmer defended himself, too, with an unwieldy hashtag: