Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy received the second ejection of his managerial career on Monday against the Colorado Rockies. In the top of the fifth inning, with the game tied at 3-3, Brewers' Joey Ortiz bunted the ball near first base, and Rockies pitcher Austin Gomber hustled to tag Ortiz out.
Gomber couldn't complete the tag as Ortiz made it to first base, but he was called out for going out of the baseline to avoid the tag. This led the Brewers manager to jump out of the dugout and argue the controversial call with the first base umpire. Soon enough, he was thrown out of the game.
The play was unreviewable as the call stood.
A closer look at the play suggests that Ortiz was in the baseline the whole time. According to the league's playing rules, a runner can use three feet on either side of the baseline to avoid the tag. Thus, it would mean that Ortiz should not have been called out.
Brewers' Pat Murphy's first ejection came in late April
As previously mentioned, this was not the first time Pat Murphy was thrown out of the game for arguing with the officials. The first time came in a tightly contested game against the Tampa Bay Rays in late April.
With runners in scoring position and only one man out, the Brewers were all set to settle the score 1-1. Jason Adam threw a wild pitch to Jake Bauers, who was then deemed out after his backswing touched the catcher.
Simultaneously, Sal Frelick raced to home for the tie but by that time, the umpire had already made the call, and the run was not counted. The Brewers lost the crunch game, 1-0.
Pat Murphy soon after the call, went to the officials for a chat, which got heated in no time. The umpire tossed him out of the game.
After managing the San Diego Padres in 2015, Pat Murphy joined the Brewers in 2016 as a coach. Craig Counsell, who was the Brewers' manager, left the club to manage the Cubs ahead of this season. This led the organization to promote Murphy to the managerial role.