Justin Turner gets ejected for waving and saying hi to the ump, a breakdown
What Happened
During a one-run game in June 2019, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner got rung up on a borderline strike call and let umpire Phil Cuzzi hear about it. The two had history, since Cuzzi had tossed Turner back in 2017 over a similar strike-zone argument. After Turner grounded out and Max Muncy got squeezed an inning later, the Dodgers dugout started chirping to keep the calls 'on the plate.' Cuzzi warned Turner to knock it off, Turner responded with a sarcastic little wave and a 'hi,' and Cuzzi ran him.
Why This Matters
Umpires can eject anyone for arguing balls and strikes, and they don't have to wait for profanity. A mocking wave counts. That's the whole catch here. Turner wasn't even the loudest voice in the dugout, but he was the one Cuzzi had already warned, and the prior 2017 toss meant there was zero patience left. Losing a hitter who was 6-for-his-last-15 in a one-run game is a real cost, and the timing made it worse. The clip became a small lesson in umpire discretion: you can get tossed for tone alone. Cuzzi's reputation for a quick trigger only fueled the debate, and Dave Roberts arguing afterward did nothing but burn time.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Justin Turner.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentJustin Turner got tossed out of the game
yesterday this was his second at-bat
nice pitch there for strike one then
this gets called a strike and he's not
happy about it he says where was that
they have a little conversation this UMP
threw him out of a game in 2017 for
questioning a strike costly if somewhat
of a history really smart pitch by the
pitcher he goes back to that very same
spot and now Turner has to swing at it
because he's not sure if it's a strike
or a ball anymore and he grounds out not
happy about that there was a home run in
between but then Muncie comes up and he
gets an inside pitch called a strike and
you can hear the dugout they don't say
much but they just say keep keep on the
plate UMP does not like that he says hey
Justin that's enough and he waves and
says hi hey did you really just toss him
out
What did he say to you will be say to
you I can't handle being waved at and
he's like I gave him a third warning and
he can't let him go on the game what am
I supposed to do I think some around
those lines I can't just let it go on
forever and Roberts just says god dammit
walks away and Turner is just an oh he's
like hi
be that soft you can kind of hear him
say it and he walks away
Turner was six for his last 15 so he's a
hot bat in a one-run game and he gets
tossed for saying keep it on the plate
and then waving at the app like it's a
little patronizing it's a little
obnoxious it's a little annoying but now
his bat is out the game for it I don't
know about