Pitcher gets ejected after throwing one pitch, a breakdown
What Happened
On July 3, 2021, Marlins starter Pablo Lopez plunked Ronald Acuna Jr. with the very first pitch of the game in Atlanta. Braves manager Brian Snitker stormed out, told the umpires it was the fifth time the Marlins had hit Acuna, and pushed for an ejection. The crew agreed and tossed Lopez after a single pitch, with no prior warning issued. Don Mattingly came out to argue at length, insisting his pitcher wasn't headhunting and that warnings should come before an ejection.
Why This Matters
Ejecting a pitcher after one pitch is rare because intent is the whole ballgame, and umpires usually issue warnings first under MLB's rules on throwing at hitters. The wrinkle here is that the crew acted largely because Snitker lobbied for it, citing five hit-by-pitches on Acuna across the season, three of them on first pitches. Lopez had a fair counterargument: he busts everyone inside, and his command up-and-in to Acuna in a prior matchup wasn't a vendetta. Mattingly's point about consistency stuck. You can't read intent off a HBP count alone. Losing your Opening-arm starter before the first out forces a bullpen game you never planned for, and it stung a Marlins club already fighting to stay relevant in a tough NL East.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Pablo Lopez. Teams: Marlins.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe starting pitcher in the braves
marlin game got ejected after throwing
one pitch these cleats and ronald acuna
jr strut to the plate looking sexy as
ever in the picture Pablo Lopez
on the bump to start the game this one
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i'm talking
about you and you know
i am anyway first picture of the game
tries to go
up and in or tries to hit him you can
make up your own mind
hits him though clearly reacts like he
doesn't mean to doesn't want to at all
but acuna's used to getting hit he's uh
not happy about it and neither is his
manager
these two guys didn't even see it so if
you know them if you're friends with
them and they try to tell you like yeah
man we had
third row seats we saw the whole thing
they didn't even know what was going on
they still have no idea something's
going on
so just don't let them lie to you snit
comes out and he says no
no i've seen enough of this [ __ ]
[ __ ] five times it's [ __ ]
and yeah he has been hit five times by
the marlins one there
two there three there four
there and this is the fifth and it's the
third time it's been the first pitch of
the game and stint says that's [ __ ]
and now he's gonna look at the umps
and he's gonna say he's gotta go so he's
telling them you gotta reject him and
donny's baseball's like oh okay
instant's like no i'm i'm really mad and
panda's like
i look cute the umps get together and
they decide
you know what schnitz right he should
get out of here it's five times snit
says it and john mentioned that's
[ __ ] horse [ __ ]
that's [ __ ] horse [ __ ] that's [ __ ]
horse [ __ ]
he just [ __ ] tells you that you got
to eject him so you eject him you didn't
even
think about it until he said something
what's going on and i'm guessing that's
the pitching coach with the lettuce
there mighty rojas
shout out chris rose rotation all the
marlins are up in arms they're like what
Pablo Lopez actually handling it pretty
cool he's kind of just kind of like you
know
corely perplexed by the whole thing
mattingly is
really upset and they let mattingly
argue for a while
about this because i think they know
he's got every right to argue and look
at him he's like i'm not oh no
i mean don't try to no no don't try to
bring that [ __ ] to me it's like
every [ __ ] day with this stuff
what are you talking about i was like
well they you hit him you hit him you
hit him you keep hitting him and don
mattingly says
we didn't do it on purpose no we didn't
yes you did you hit him all the time man
he's like no we're not that's [ __ ]
horse [ __ ]
it has to be warnings before the [ __ ]
game and that's the biggest
that's [ __ ] we haven't had any
problems with these guys
and that's just but you can't eject a
guy without warnings first i mean we've
seen this happen before so obviously you
can but
there should be warnings then the
pitcher will know okay maybe i can't
bust him inside and even that's kind of
nonsense but yeah
matlin's mad and this is the ump says
every single time that guy gets hit
and manly says he's not getting hit
every single time
he's not getting hit every single time
no austin reilly looking on like he's
mad and now it cuts to the end of this
saying
and i think you know this is the end of
the sentence where Don Mattingly says
anything at him and he was going to be
ejected if it just got hit she was
anything adam and now you [ __ ] us
tomorrow
and possibly the next game the um says
you're out of here he's i don't give a
[ __ ]
you're [ __ ] wrong [ __ ] wrong
nobody's doing it you cannot see that
that's on purpose
you cannot see it um says will you hit
this guy all the time in the past he
says
the past is the past we haven't had any
problems with these guys
all year we played them seven times
with five of them [ __ ] going to us
why would we hit this guy
no we didn't i'm just like well i don't
know but you did no we didn't
he didn't do it on purpose you gotta
believe me
i did not order them to do that
he's like well that's what i heard and
he's like fro who did who told you that
him snit he's gonna believe whatever he
says
great now Pablo Lopez he talks to the
ump and he tries to argue his case he
says
in my last game against lacuna i got him
owen two
i threw two pitches that almost hit him
two fast balls up and in four seamers
and i tried and then i'm just like whoa
whoa and he's like and i apologize i'm
like
yeah but well how come you didn't you
know warn me or reject me before
when that's how i pitched him and then i
have the footage of that this was his
last at-bat so i mean that's up and in
and uh that's up and in in the zone but
maybe it was close to his hands and then
he does brush him off the plate here
with the o2 pitch
bam he's like you know if you're going
to eject for throwing at him why didn't
i get ejected that and he said don
matlin says yeah
look at his stats that's not what he's
trying to do he's trying to go up and
in and then that's what happened the um
says well yeah but you throw out that
guy all the time it's the same guy oh it
matters who's [ __ ] standing in the
box
that's horse [ __ ] that's [ __ ] horse
[ __ ]
then dominion says gonna run into a
point says that's exactly right
that's exactly right you don't give a
[ __ ] about it
he gets real mad here he didn't do it on
purpose
he didn't do it
i don't give a [ __ ] he's like i'm
telling you what happened i'm not asking
you what happens that's [ __ ] horse
[ __ ]
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
yelling in your face i'm going to yell
yours i'll give [ __ ] about your [ __ ]
or [ __ ] [ __ ] horseshit
[ __ ] you're a [ __ ] joke
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