Baltimore Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz ran into a little trouble during extra innings of Saturday’s game against the Miami Marlins. It wasn’t because of poor performance, but rather for the possible performance enhancer on his right forearm.
Marlins manager Dan Jennings, who earned his first career win Saturday night, didn’t waste any time violating one of the unwritten rules of baseball for the first time in his career.
In the bottom of the 12th inning with two outs and no runners on base, Jennings approached the home plate umpire and complained about some sort of substance on Matusz’s catching arm. After a brief congregation at the mound between the umpires, it was determined that Matusz was in fact utilizing an illegal substance and was promptly ejected from the game.
Matusz is the second pitcher to be ejected from a game this week for using an illegal foreign substance after Brewers reliever Will Smith was tossed from an outing Thursday. While Smith contested that almost every pitcher utilizes some form of foreign substance, Matusz decided to keep comments to himself until a later date. A suspension for Matusz is inevitable, but a duration has not yet been determined.
The foreign substance issue with pitchers has, in many ways, similarities with the Deflategate saga, and it seems clear that most athletes, regardless of the sport, will do their absolute best to gain a competitive advantage.
Thumbnail photo via Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports Images
