Asdrúbal Cabrera gets ejected and throws his batting gloves towards the ump, a breakdown
What Happened
The Texas Rangers are hosting the Cleveland Guardians in a heated matchup. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Cleveland's Asdrúbal Cabrera steps up to the plate, looking to turn his recent slump around. His first two at-bats have been frustrating, as the umpire has called him out on several borderline pitches. Now in his third at-bat, Cabrera faces another tough count, 0-2. The umpire calls him out on a swing and Cabrera immediately expresses his disagreement. "If I knew you were going to call that, I would have taken it," he says to the umpire. The manager, Chris Woodward, quickly comes out to defend his player, arguing that the pitch was too close to take and that the umpire acted too hastily in ejecting Cabrera after just one warning. Fuming, Cabrera retreats to the dugout, slamming his batting gloves to the ground in frustration. His anger boils over as he storms back onto the field, continuing to shout at the umpire. With no other choice, the umpire ejects Cabrera from the game. The incident highlights the ongoing tension between players, managers and umpires over the interpretation of close calls. Cabrera, mired in a slump, felt he was getting unfairly targeted by the umpire's quick trigger to eject him. Woodward argues that the umpire should have given Cabrera more leeway before tossing him from the game. As Cabrera heads to the clubhouse, the Guardians trail the Rangers 3-2 in the late innings. The team will have to continue the game without their veteran infielder, who has been a steady presence in their lineup. The heated exchange underscores the high stakes and emotions involved when a player feels he has been wronged by an umpire's decision. With tensions running high, the remainder of the game promises to be a closely watched affair, as both teams look to gain the upper hand in this tightly contested matchup between American League foes.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentAsdrubal Cabrera got thrown out after
his third at-bat in the game last night
I went and looked at his first two
at-bats to see if there was anything
that led up to it check this out in his
last nine games
he's only got four hits one 21 batting
average 171 OBP so he's slumping and
he's just in a bad mood
the UMP actually didn't call a called
strike in his first two at-bats at him
down there with curve balls in his
second at-bat they go changeup fastball
Oh to then they're gonna try and get him
with another change then the curves but
he's made an adjustment he's fouling
those off now better than before
good job is dribble they're like I will
just switch to the fastball the beeps
it's him down
here's his third at-bat first pitch
correct call good job up second pitch
ball good job um third pitch ball good
job um calls him on the swing there
buddy swung and then that is the final
pitch that gets a mad like damn if I
knew you're gonna call that was swung
just like that would have been great is
it inside it's it's it's borderline its
to borderline to take if you're compare
there he goes into the dugout checks the
film and then comes back with this
I didn't throw them out like that
manager Woodward comes out like you
didn't have to throw him out that easily
I gave him a warning a game is one
warning you gave him a warning then you
threw him out right away I know but you
can't throw him out for that that's not
fair the ball wasn't over the plate he
went looked at it and he stopped already
he's done awesome raging look at Cabrera
just absolutely raging tosses his
batting gloves take that blue they're
like what did he just toss his batting
gloves all right yeah would words like
I'll get out of here
no really defending that that was kind
of weird here got your batting gloves so
uh there you go but that was a very
quick warning to ejection
I'm just got to give a little more
breathing room there like you can't be
like that's a warning
now you're ejected two quick warning to
ejection it's too quick