Pirates perturbed by trio of ejections in loss to Reds

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton still was upset about being one of three coaches who were ejected from the second game of a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday at PNC Park.

Home plate umpire Nic Lentz tossed Shelton, pitching coach Oscar Marin and bench coach Don Kelly in the sixth inning of the 6-5 loss for arguing balls and strikes, leaving the Pirates coaching staff short for the remainder of a game that went 10 innings.

The Pirates were leading 4-3 with two outs in the top of the sixth when Lentz issued the ejections after Reds catcher Luke Maile drew a full-count walk with runners on first and third to load the bases.

Shelton said Pirates coaches argued that the pitch, which was high and inside, was in a similar elevated spot as to where Bryan Reynolds received a called third strike in the bottom of the fifth inning. Shelton and his coaches previously complained that a 1-2 fastball to Maile also was in an elevated spot similar to the Reynolds call.

“I had asked (Lentz) an inning earlier on the pitch that Reynolds struck out on where it was at. He told me it was up. I said I didn’t think it was up. That was it,” Shelton said. “The two pitches to Maile, in my opinion, were in the same spot. On the second one, I told him I thought it was a strike. Then, he ejected me, or he ejected Oscar, I don’t know which one he ejected first.”

With Lentz standing at his side but not speaking, crew chief Chad Fairchild explained the umpires’ view of the incident to a pool reporter.

“The situation was the coaching staff (was) arguing balls and strikes on multiple pitches. They were warned to stop,” Fairchild said in a pool report. “When Nic looked over there, there were multiple personnel in their dugout arguing balls and strikes. So with all of those people and coaches there together, Nic ejected the (person) standing next to Shelton.”

Fairchild identified that person as Kelly. The ejection caused chaos, as Shelton stormed onto the field to argue with Lentz. When Shelton was ejected, Marin went onto the field to argue with the umpires. After Marin was ejected, Kelly went onto the field before being removed.

“It was multiple personnel arguing balls and strikes,” Fairchild said. “At that point, when we’re looking over there and we’ve got multiple people, we had to do our job and that’s exactly what happened.”

Though Shelton said the ejections for himself and Marin “were warranted, probably” for arguing balls and strikes, Shelton took exception to Kelly being tossed.

“Donnie didn’t say a word. Not a word,” Shelton said. “I think the most frustrating thing is (Lentz) just started running people and basically said, ‘You’re all gone.’ When Donnie got out there, he goes, ‘I don’t know who it was, I just threw him out.’ You very rarely see Donnie Kelly lose his cool, and you got to see Donnie Kelly lose his cool. … I think he just started throwing people out, and he was not aware of what the situation was.”

The trio of ejections left Pirates third base coach Mike Rabelo in charge with hitting coach Andy Haines and game planning and strategy coach Radley Haddad being joined by bullpen coach Justin Meccage to assist in the dugout. Reynolds, who homered twice in the loss, said the ejections served as inspiration.

“I think that rallied us up right there,” Reynolds said. “I love seeing those guys get fired up and do that sometimes. I liked it.”

The Pirates’ staff was short-handed for the final 4 ½ innings, which involved four pitching changes, three position switches and a pinch-hit situation. It became a bigger issue, however, when the Pirates wanted to contest a pickoff play at first base in the eighth inning and had to decide quickly which coach would notify the umpires of their challenge.

“I think Rabs ran the game great,” Shelton said. “We just didn’t execute.”