Several innings before Walker Buehler set a career high with 16 strikeouts in his first complete game and Matt Beaty hit a walk-off home run, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost Justin Turner because he was ejected by home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild.
It occurred after Turner grounded out to lead off the fourth inning. The pitch before, which appeared off the outside corner and below the zone, was called for strike.
Turner calmly had a brief conversation with Fairchild before stepping back into the batter’s box. German Marquez went back to that spot, which required Turner to swing due to being down 0-2 in the count.
Similar pitches to Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy were also called for strike, causing some within the Dodgers dugout to object. That led to Turner being ejected without much warning.
Manager Dave Roberts sprinted out of the dugout to speak with Fairchild, and had another conversation with him between innings later in the game.
Following the Dodgers’ win, Turner explained where the confusion lied with a fourth career ejection, via SportsNet LA:
“I’m not really sure what happened. He looked in the dugout and said that’s enough or whatever, and I kind of smiled and waved to him and said, ‘Hi.’ Apparently that was offensive in some way.”
Turner added Fairchild had a terse response when questioned about the strike call, which is common between batters and umpires:
“I asked him about a pitch during my at-bat that same inning. I just said, ‘Hey, Chad, where do you got that?’ And he kind of snapped back at me and said, ‘Obviously it’s a strike or I wouldn’t have called it.’ (I) didn’t say anything else, grounded out, came off the field. I don’t know if he was just having a bad day or a few bad days, because I don’t think the last ejection was warranted either.”
Friday’s ejection was the fourth of Turner’s career. It was the first since September 2017, when Fairchild threw him out of a game, also at Dodger Stadium.
That too was over a disagreement on balls and strikes, and review of the call supported Turner’s stance. He didn’t back off disagreeing with the called strike but expressed regret over getting ejected. That night, the Dodgers dropped what was their season-worst sixth consecutive game.
