Sure, the umpiring was absolutely embarrassing that Major League Baseball allows the amateur hour in an MLB game. Homeplate umpire Greg Gibson should be suspended as this is one of those times integrity comes into play here on the egregious strikeout calls. Even with an 8-3 loss, the Nationals can only blame themselves in questionable managing, pitch selection, pitch execution, plate discipline, approach, and the extreme lack of clutch hitting. The Nationals were 1-for-16 in RISP hitting tonight. The team stranded 11-runners. That is unacceptable.
“I think it was uncalled for,” manager Dave Martinez said on Soto’s ejection. “I’m not going to argue balls and strikes. I can’t see balls and strikes [from my vantage point]. I didn’t think it was appropriate for him to throw him out. I’m not Gibby so I’m not going to speak for him.”
To add to the drama, Bryce Harper was plunked on his right leg, and Juan Soto and Kevin Long were both ejected from the game by homeplate ump Greg Gibson arguing the strikeout calls. Somehow, manager Dave Martinez was not ejected.
“I never think he was going to toss me out. The pitch before was a ball. Make sure he can understand and be better. Help him. Never,” Juan Soto said about whether he has ever been ejected before. “First time. Never…They make errors. We make errors. We are human.”
In the first inning, the Nationals worked Mike Foltynewicz to bases loaded and a pitch count of 35 and only pushed across one run in the inning. The Nationals loaded bases twice and had men-on-base almost every inning.
One of the most debated issues was a second inning decision to pitch to Charlie Culberson with runners on 2nd and 1st base and 2-outs with the pitcher on-deck. Culberson smacked a 3-run HR and the air was sucked out of the stadium.
Starter Tommy Milone gave up 7-runs in this game. One of the issues when Milone had 0-2 and 1-2 counts he did not throw any chase pitches low in the zone like he did in his last start. Why was Matt Wieters chosen to catch Milone who threw 7.0 innings last week of 1-run baseball with Spencer Kieboom catching him?
