MLB notes: Beltre ejected from game after relocating on-deck circle
You don’t get to the doorstep of 3,000 hits, in your 20th MLB season, without developing what you think are some pretty good habits. For Adrian Beltre, those habits include trying to get a good view of the opposing pitcher’s delivery while waiting for your turn at the plate, and at the same time keeping yourself a bit farther out of harm’s way.
And so it was, in a game Wednesday between Beltre’s Rangers and the visiting Marlins, that the veteran third baseman was taking his warmup swings closer to home plate than where the on-deck circle was situated. When crew chief Gerry Davis told him to return to the designated location, Beltre simply picked up the on-deck circle and moved it to where he had been.
That was too much for Davis, who ejected Beltre and then, when Texas manager Jeff Banister came out to argue, tossed him as well. The eighth-inning incident provided one of the wackier moments of the season.
Beltre may have felt emboldened to attempt the stunt because, with Miami holding an 18-6 lead in the eighth, the game had long since gotten away from Texas. After the game, a 22-10 Marlins win, the fourtime all-star gave his version of events.
“The home-plate umpire told me Gerry wanted me to move,” Beltre said (via the Dallas Morning News). “I said, ‘Why? I don’t want to get hit. I stand here every day, I’ve been standing here for a lot of years and I’ve been standing here when he was umpiring home plate and he didn’t say nothing. Everybody stands in the same spot. Why do I have to move? I don’t want to get hit.’
“Then the second umpire came down and he told me I need to move. I told Gerry I have no problem but I don’t want to get hit. I’ve been hit when I stand over there. He said, ‘Well I don’t care. You need to be on top of the mat.’ So I pulled the mat where I was at and he threw me out.
“If you see the video, you see everybody standing in the same spot,” Beltre continued. “Why was that a problem today? I’ve been standing in the same spot the whole series.”
Before his ejection, Beltre went
3-for-3 at the plate, bringing his career total to 2,996 hits. He will soon become the 31st MLB player to reach 3,000, and the first since Ichiro Suzuki got there with the Marlins last year.
D.C. DINGERS: The Washington Nationals tied a franchise record with eight home runs, including two apiece by Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman, and Max Scherzer pitched six innings of three-hit ball in a 15-2 rout of the fading Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.
Washington matched two major league records in a seven-run third inning: Most consecutive home runs (four) and most home runs in an inning (five).
After Harper connected off Michael Blazek (0-1) in the first inning, Brian Goodwin started the long-ball barrage in the third with a two-run drive. Wilmer Difo, Harper and Zimmerman followed with long home runs.
The streak was interrupted when Daniel Murphy flied out, after which some of the fans reacted with goodnatured booing.
Anthony Rendon resumed the fun with a shot to dead centre that finally chased Blazek, whose first major league start was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
DUDA DEALT: The out-of-contention Mets started their veteran dispersal by trading first baseman Lucas Duda to the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league pitcher Drew Smith.
Expected to contend for an NL East title, the Mets started Thursday night 47-52, 131⁄ games behind first-place 2 Washington and nine games out of a wild-card berth.
Duda is eligible for free agency after the World Series, as are Mets outfielders Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce, second baseman Neil Walker, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and reliever Addison Reed.
The 31-year-old Duda is hitting .246 with 17 homers and 37 RBIs.