PITTSBURGH — Pirates manager Don Kelly was ejected from Monday night’s game at PNC Park in the bottom of the eighth inning by third-base umpire Ben May after arguing two check-swing calls against Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds doubled later in the at-bat to tie the game.
Kelly watched the ninth and 10th innings from his office as the Pirates defeated the Diamondbacks on a walk-off single from Brandon Lowe for a 3-2 victory.
“I did not think Bryan checked,” Kelly said. “I thought he held up on the first one. The second one was a little bit closer, and I just thought that Ben was looking in the dugout already. I don’t even think I said anything; I might have put my hands up on the second one, but I did not think he went for sure on the first one.”
Reynolds was called for a strike on the first and fourth pitch of his at-bat in the eighth inning, a crucial one with the tying run on second base and two outs. Kelly argued the first call from the dugout, as did the rest of Pittsburgh’s bench. After the second call, Kelly argued louder, catching the attention of May, who quickly ejected him.
Kelly got his money’s worth, throwing his gum to the side and getting into the face of May. It was Kelly’s fourth ejection of the year. He said it was tough to watch the Pirates climb back from a different view.
When asked about the possibility of MLB implementing a check-swing challenge system, Kelly mentioned the inevitability of the system one day reaching the Majors. It’s already being tested in the Minor Leagues.
“It sounds like they’re working on that,” Kelly said. “Check swings are tough. I mean, it is so close, and I don’t know if there’s a perfect way to do it. They’re working on doing that, I know, in the Minor Leagues, and we’ll see how that goes in the Minor Leagues and if it makes its way up to the big leagues.”
