Bumgarner ejected after puzzling exchange with umpire

MIAMI -- One of the D-backs’ most steady starters, three-time World Series champion Madison Bumgarner was ejected after the first inning of the 8-7 series finale win over the Marlins on Wednesday. The ejection came a day after manager Torey Lovullo was ejected for arguing a call reversal (foul to fair) in the seventh inning of a 5-4 win.

Bumgarner had to be held back by two coaches, a teammate and Lovullo -- who vaulted over the dugout fence -- after the starter appeared to enter a heated exchange with first-base umpire Dan Bellino following a sticky substance check and the final out of the inning. During the exchange, Bellino appeared to check Bumgarner’s hand manually, but without breaking eye contact with the starter. The content of the exchange was unclear. Postgame, Lovullo explained that it seemed like Bumgarner was getting uncomfortable during the check.

“I don't want to get into it, but the umpires were explaining to me the reason why they [ejected Bumgarner],” Lovullo said. “And it put us really behind the eight ball, it got very aggressive there. … What led up to that was a little bit probably of Bum being uncomfortable in a certain situation; he said a little bit too much and got ejected.

“[Bellino’s] checking his hand and I think that's where Bum started to get a little uncomfortable, and I haven't had really a chance to talk to Bum about it. But I think he just felt like there was something that didn't make him very happy during that sequence.”

When asked about the hand check, Bellino told a press pool reporter, “I wouldn't say [Bumgarner] took exception to it. It was just a hand check.”

• Watch highlights from D-backs' 8-7 win

During the final at-bat of the inning, Bumgarner had seemed displeased with the call (a ball) on his fourth pitch of the AB. With a 1-2 count against Garrett Cooper, Bumgarner dropped an 87.8 mph cutter middle-outside in almost the same spot as his second pitch of the at-bat (a called strike). Bumgarner and catcher Jose Herrera, along with most of the Arizona position players, started to walk off the field immediately following the pitch, before home-plate umpire Ryan Wills signaled “ball.”

Bumgarner returned to the mound and induced a flyout, then could be seen gesticulating, appearing to make some comments toward Wills while walking off the field prior to the substance check.

“I know why I got thrown out,” Bumgarner said. “But you guys have seen the video. I don’t know if I can say anything that would make the situation better. … You guys have all seen it, and you can go back and see it all again, and it’s pretty clear.”

Bumgarner was ejected for “profanity directed at an umpire,” said Bellino, who cited that the starter “made some inappropriate comments and was removed from the game.”

The southpaw allowed one run in his one inning of work on a leadoff home run by Jon Berti. It was his second career ejection, after he was thrown out on June 11, 2018, while with San Francisco for arguing balls and strikes.

Prior to Monday’s series opener, Lovullo acknowledged the D-backs’ depleted bullpen and the need for starters to pitch as deep into games as possible. That didn’t happen on Wednesday, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Finding himself unexpectedly called upon in the second, Corbin Martin worked four innings in long relief, while the D-backs fought back from an early deficit, taking the lead in a five-run fourth inning highlighted by a Daulton Varsho two-run homer. The game tightened up in the late innings, with Miami rallying for two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to jump ahead 7-6, but Pavin Smith's ninth-inning two-run shot put the D-backs back in front to stay.