Pent-up frustration boiled over Wednesday night for Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell.
With the Red Sox trailing the Atlanta Braves by two runs in the eighth inning, Farrell vehemently disagreed with a check swing call on Braves shortstop Pedro Ciriaco. He made the umpiring crew aware of his disapproval and seconds later was ejected from his second game this season.
Farrell made sure to get his money’s worth, engaging in a shouting match with first base umpire Larry Vanover before disappearing down the tunnel and watching the remainder of Boston’s 5-2 loss from the clubhouse.
“I don’t know if (Vanover) could have heard me from that distance,” Farrell told reporters after the game, as aired on “Red Sox Extra Innings LIVE.” “But I motioned after the check swing to Ciriaco — it was clearly a full swing — and he ran me at that point. So, I went out to argue my case.”
But although the questionable check swing ultimately was what got Farrell tossed, the seeds of his discontent were sown in the very first inning. The Red Sox skipper used his manager’s challenge with one out in the first when a bobble by Braves third baseman Juan Uribe resulted in a bang-bang play at second base.
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It initially appeared that baserunner Brock Holt might have beaten Uribe’s throw to second, but the umpires reviewed the play and determined that second baseman Jace Peterson did, in fact, gain control of the ball before Holt reached the bag.
The call stood, and the Red Sox went down scoreless in the frame.
“It took a while for the replays to come in — that’s what was the initial delay,” Farrell told reporters. “And then when we looked at the replays internally, the question we had was, ‘Did (Peterson) have full control of the throw?’ He seemed to have it pinned up against his leg, and there on our part was a little discrepancy on the timing of it. So, we lose the challenge.”
Losing the challenge came back to bite Boston just one inning later. After the first two batters in the frame reached base, center fielder Mookie Betts laid down a bunt in front of home plate. Both runners advanced with ease, and the speedy Betts even appeared to beat out pitcher Alex Wood’s throw to first.
Vanover, however, disagreed, calling Betts out on the play. Farrell emerged from his dugout to argue, but since he already had burnt his challenge, the umpires were not required to go to the video. But they still could have, Farrell argued, which prompted him to bemoan the replay system’s inconsistencies after the game.
“The thing that I have a discrepancy with,” Farrell told reporters, “is that we’ve been involved in games in which, prior to the completion of the sixth inning, after a team has lost their challenge, on a disputable call, they’ll ask for a crew chief review.
“Mookie Betts is safe by a step and a half. And when there was a refusal to review it, I just asked Larry at that point, ‘You think that the rule is that you can’t go take a look at this play.’ But when it’s not implemented consistently across the board, that’s where you begin to have some issues with it.”
The Red Sox were retired in order after Betts’ bunt and proceeded to squander two one-run leads en route to their eighth loss in nine games.
Thumbnail photo via Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports Images
