A rough night for the Chicago White Sox was headlined by Tim Anderson’s seventh-inning ejection after he seemed to bump an umpire after contesting a strike call.
Anderson and manager Tony La Russa were thrown out of Friday night’s 7-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics after a heated argument following a strike call that appeared to be high.
Anderson let home plate umpire Nick Mahrley know how he felt, prompting the ejection. But what followed next could lead to a lengthy suspension from Major League Baseball.
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"I don’t think Tim cursed him or anything," La Russa explained after the game. "If you don’t allow a player to be emotional, (and) you have a bunch of robots out here playing, that’s not entertaining.
"That at-bat, I thought the pitches were questionable. He got upset," he continued. "I think you need to allow players to spark, as long as they don’t cross a line. And that thing escalated before Tim did anything. He’s fired up. That’s the way he plays. That’s the way you’re supposed to play."
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Mahrley seemed to motion that Anderson made contact with him during the verbal altercation, but La Russa saw it differently.
"I know I think I saw the umpire moving forward quite a bit, which they’re taught not to do that," La Russa said. "I didn’t see any contact that I know."
Trailing 5-3 at the time, Chicago allowed two more runs and lost its second straight to fall below .500 (49-50).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
