Adrian Beltre’s hijinks often are harmless and inject some fun into a sport that can be pretty boring from time to time.
Gerry Davis didn’t get the memo, apparently.
Davis, a veteran umpire, ejected Beltre on Wednesday night as the Texas Rangers third baseman warmed up in the on-deck circle during his team’s 22-10 loss to the Miami Marlins.
In the bottom of the eighth inning in a meaningless 18-6 game, Davis — serving as the second base umpire — noticed Beltre taking his warmup hacks a little too close to home plate.
Davis stopped the game — a 12-run game in the bottom of the eighth inning, mind you — to tell Beltre to move 5 feet toward the dugout. Instead, Beltre jokingly moved the on-deck circle, but Davis wasn’t in a laughing mood, ejecting Beltre for his actions.
Once again, it was a 12-run baseball game (!!) in late July between two teams going nowhere in the standings.
Good job, blue.
Beltre, understandably, was miffed about Davis’ actions.
“Everybody stands in the same spot, so I didn’t want to move,” Beltre told reporters, per The Associated Press. “I didn’t want to get hit, so I turned around and that was it. Second base umpire came down and told me I need to move.
“If you see the video, you see everybody stand in the same spot. Why was that a problem today? I’ve been staying in the same spot the whole series.”
Coincidentally, the ejection took away an at-bat from Beltre, who moved even closer to the 3,000-hit mark and now is just four away from the magic number.
Thumbnail photo via Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports Images
