It wasn’t a good bottom of the third inning for umpire Chad Fairchild and Detroit Tigers third basemen Miguel Cabrera and manager Jim Leyland and nearly disastrous for Philadelphia Phillies starter Jonathan Pettibone.
The inning started with a ground rule double for Alex Avila, Ramon Santiago singled putting runners on first and third, Austin Jackson worked the count full before taking a walk on a pitch that looked like a strike. Not a good situation for Pettibone a bases loaded situation with no outs against the Tigers and having Cabrera looming. Don Kelly got ahead in the count 3-1, before popping out to third basemen Michael Young for the first out of the inning.
In stepped Cabrera the MLB leader in rbi who took strike one though the pitch looked high and he said something to Fairchild. The next pitch pretty much was in the same location and got called a strike, something got said again and this time he got ejected. This didn’t sit well with Leyland who immediately gave the umpire behind home plate a piece of his mind and he also got tossed. He also let crew chief Eric Cooper have it as well before leaving the field.
Matt Tuiasosopo finished the at-bat which ended in a strike out that went to Cabrera. Pettibone then got Prince Fielder to foul out to Young to end the inning and allowed for the Phillies to keep their 1-0 lead. A surprising turn over events when it seemed that the Phillies had a legitimate beef with the strike zone of Fairchild.
While what got said is unknown, ejecting Cabrera is hard to justify and MLB should discipline Fairchild.
Here’s some Tweets in regards to what happened:
Something you don’t see every day… Miguel Cabrera up w/ bases loaded, gets EJECTED during AB for arguing call from umpire Chad Fairchild.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 28, 2013
I guess Chad Fairchild got what he wanted… Everyone’s gonna be talking about him… And of course @MLB won’t discipline him at all…
— The Original Jar (@BravesSwearJar) July 28, 2013
No idea what words Cabrera just said, but Chad Fairchild — no stranger to arguments with Tigers — just tossed him on strike two.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) July 28, 2013