November 22, 2024
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Derek Shelton began the day by speaking with MLB over the umpire crew’s handling of the pitch clock. He watched the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Tampa Bay Rays game in his office to finish it.

One of baseball’s new rules changes this season, Shelton got into a fight with home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott and third base umpire Adrian Johnson over the pitch clock, which led to his ejection in the top of the fourth inning of Wednesday’s 8-1 loss at Tropicana Field.

During Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Rays, Shelton became enraged with the crew over two issues: the pitch clock and an uncalled balk in the sixth inning that left runners on second and third base.

Shelton stated, “I didn’t agree with the way the clock was being run,” during the AT&T SportsNet postgame program. “Yesterday, I didn’t agree with the way the clock was operated. I spoke with MLB about this matter this morning, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it again tomorrow. However, I didn’t like the way the clock was operated.

Shelton claimed that the 30-second timer between batters ought to have been running with Ji Hwan Bae on first base following a bunt single. Rather, it was halted when Austin Hedges, the catcher, took the plate. Shelton and Wolcott yelled at each other, and the telecast featured Wolcott’s foul language. Shelton dashed to third base from the dugout. He went up against Johnson there, who had been behind the plate the previous evening.

Shelton remarked, “I asked why it was stopped.” “We had a discussion about it since the umpire didn’t agree with my evaluation of it.”

Don Kelly, the Pirates bench coach who replaced Shelton, signaled to Johnson that he was keeping an eye on the Pirates by pointing two fingers at his own eyes and then directing them to the opposing dugout.

The game was at a crucial point when the player was ejected. Bae hit the two-out bunt single with the Pirates down 1 run on the Rays. Bae stole second base after Shelton was thrown out, then got to third on a wild pitch by Shane McClanahan. Hedges’s out put a stop to the scoring opportunity.

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