Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker was tossed early from their 9-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night despite not even making eye contact with home plate umpire Malachi Moore.
Walker ran out to meet starting pitcher Alek Manoah in the second inning of the game at the Rogers Center in Toronto after Manoah walked Trent Grisham. Manoah had given up a pair of runs in the first, and was an out away from ending the second inning when Grisham was walked.
Pretty quickly into that meeting at the mound, however, Moore started making his way over to the huddle. Walker did not seem to acknowledge Moore at all, and continued to meet with Manoah and his team. Then suddenly, without any eye contact being made whatsoever, Moore tossed Walker from the game.
Just watch:
It’s not known what Walker and Manoah were talking about on the mound, but Moore clearly wasn’t having it. Walker didn’t even object to the ejection much at all, either. He screamed at Moore briefly before calmly walking to the dugout and back to the clubhouse, almost as if he knew the ejection was coming.
That ejection didn’t seem to do much for Manoah or the Blue Jays. Although they got on the board with an RBI single from Matt Chapman in the first inning, they managed just six hits on the night and didn’t score the rest of the way. Manoah, who gave up two more runs in the third, was pulled in the fourth inning. Manny Machado and Gary Sánchez each hit solo homers in the fifth inning, too, and Grisham added a solo shot in the eighth. From there, the Padres rolled to the eight-run win.
The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Blue Jays, and marked just their second loss in 10 games dating back before the All-Star break. The Padres, on the other hand, ended a three-game losing skid of their own with the win, which marked the first of a three-game series in Toronto.