BOSTON — The umpires had some explaining to do after Friday’s Red Sox-Rays game at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox and Rays had another eventful clash involving a bench-clearing incident. Three members of the Red Sox’s coaching staff — manager John Farrell, bench coach Torey Lovullo, third base coach Brian Butterfield — and starter Brandon Workman were ejected in a game that saw three Boston hitters get hit by pitches. Farrell expressed frustration after the game with how the drama was handled.
Farrell was ejected by home plate umpire Dan Bellino in the first inning. Rays starter David Price hit David Ortiz in his first at-bat, causing Bellino to issue warnings to both benches. Farrell thought Price should have been ejected, though, and the Boston skipper thus argued his case, leading to the ejection.
Price hit Mike Carp in the fourth inning, at which point the benches emptied. Ortiz, who was extremely vocal after the game, tried to go after Price as a whole bunch of pushing and shoving ensued. Price never was ejected from Friday’s game.
Workman was ejected in the sixth inning after throwing a pitch behind Evan Longoria. Workman said after the game that the ball slipped out of his hand because of the rainy conditions at Fenway.
The following is crew chief Jeff Kellogg’s explanation for the umpires’ decisios Friday, as told to Ken Powtak of The Associated Press.
What goes into the decision to issue the warnings?
“If we think there is intent to throw at a hitter, then that’s when we’re going to issue warnings.”
Does anything come into play with the history of the teams?
“Yes, sure. We actually get reports from the office if there’s an incident between two clubs, especially when it’s this recent and they’re playing again the following weekend. We all received a report on the incident that happened last weekend, and they just sent a report and said, ‘Heads up. This is what took place. Be ready for something.’”
Was there anything said before the game to the teams about the report?
“No.”
Obviously, the Red Sox are upset on their side when Price stays in the game. What goes into that decision?
“Again, if we feel there was intent to hit the batter, he would have been ejected. We felt the pitch was certainly inside, but not intentional, so that’s why he stayed in the game.”
Did you ever feel like when he stays in the game that things could get out of control?
“Sure, you think about a lot of things, but part of losing control is them losing control. We stay under control. We aren’t going to make a decision if we feel we are in the right place because we’re worried about somebody losing control. At some point, you want to keep peace out there and you want to keep control of the game, absolutely. We weren’t going to throw him out of the game to please Boston because things were getting out of control on their end.”
The Workman situation, did you feel that was intentional?
“Yes. We felt that was intentional and the actions out there confirmed that.”
