Torey Lovullo ejected in 4th inning of D-backs vs. Astros game
Sep 20, 2020, 12:31 PM | Updated: 3:52 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, right, argues with umpire Adam Hamari, left, after Hamari ejected him during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
(AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was ejected in the fourth inning of the game Sunday against the Houston Astros.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Lovullo yelled from the dugout toward the home plate umpire about a call he disagreed with. After a strike call on the outside corner against Eduardo Escobar, the umpire turned toward Lovullo and yelled back.
“Usually if I get ejected from a baseball game, it’s not that call. It’s not one call,” Lovullo said. “I know the umpires are doing their absolute best … so it was a build-up of several pitches, an accumulation of things and some input that I was getting from the hitters.”
The broadcast picked up the umpire exclaiming “That’s enough” and telling Lovullo that it was “not the same” pitch.
RELATED STORIES
After the game, Lovullo acknowledged that this was “probably” in reference to a Madison Bumgarner pitch from the inning before.
That pitch was similarly aimed for the lower outside corner and was very close to hitting the mark, but was called a ball.
Torey Lovullo is not happy with the strike zone and has been ejected from today's game. pic.twitter.com/8wZjlYc1pg
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) September 20, 2020
After the third inning, Bumgarner stopped on his way to the dugout to discuss the strike zone — or in his words, he was “having a little chat” — with the umpire.
Five batters later, Lovullo was ejected after a pitch in a similar spot was once again called against the D-backs.
This is Lovullo’s third ejection of the season and his seventh as the D-backs manager.
After he departed, the bases were still loaded and Escobar remained at the plate. The third baseman grounded into a double play, which drove home a run to give Arizona a 1-0 lead, but the D-backs could not inflict any more damage in the inning.
Nick Ahmed hit a home run in the fifth inning, but Houston scored a run in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
The Astros defeated the D-backs 3-2.
