The Kansas City Royals have a problem with the Oakland Athletics, and one beanball from Yordano Ventura to Brett Lawrie wasn’t going to fix that.
In the first inning of Sunday’s game at Kauffman Stadium, Scott Kazmir plunked Lorenzo Cain (it looked accidental since if you’re going to throw at someone, you don’t throw at their feet, but whatever).
Home plate umpire Greg Gibson warned both benches, and that apparently didn’t sit well with manager Ned Yost and pitching coach Dave Eiland, because both of them lost their minds and were ejected.
The game largely continued on without incident…until the eighth inning, when Kelvin Herrera threw at Lawrie *again*, and then proceeded to point at his head (which didn’t appear to be recorded by either Fox Sports Kansas City or CSN California).
Herrera, bench coach Don Wakamatsu, and shortstop Alcides Escobar were all ejected for Kansas City.
A’s closer Sean Doolittle, currently on the DL, wasn’t pleased at all with Herrera.
Bush league
— Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) April 19, 2015
https://twitter.com/whatwouldDOOdo/status/589894452690427905
How much of an overreaction is all of this to a slide that may or may not have been dirty? It’s absurd. Closer Greg Holland is already on the DL. Herrera and Ventura will likely be earning suspensions for their actions.
The Royals don’t have another off day for two weeks, and now, they’ll be probably be missing their two best relievers and best starter for a solid chunk of that time.
All because they couldn’t keep their cool and had to “stand up for their teammate” following a hard play they felt was dirty. Keep hurting your team in the short and long run to try to prove a point.
