Seattle Mariners catcher Tom Murphy lets umpire CB Bucknor have it after call: "F*****g CB, you’re f*****g terrible"
Seattle Mariners catcher Tom Murphy let first base umpire CB Bucknor have it with an expletive-laced rant in Tuesday's 10-2 loss to the New York Yankees.
Facing Yankees pitcher Michael King, Murphy was charged a strike on a check swing by home plate umpire Brian Walsh, who appealed to Bucknor, and the call was upheld. At that point, Murphy directed his rage at Bucknor, saying:
"F*****g CB you’re f*****g terrible.”
Tom Murphy said “fucking CB you’re fucking terrible” and the home plate ump tossed him https://t.co/h3T6O6uGog
Walsh immediately ejected Murphy for the tirade, even though Murphy did not realize it. Then Mariners manager Scott Servais came out to argue the ejection and was also ejected.
Tuesday's Mariners/Yankees game was just the second time that Walsh has called balls and strikes in MLB. He made his major league debut on April 18 after being called up from umpiring in Triple-A. His only previous game behind the plate was on May 24.
Cal Raleigh replaced Murphy as the Seattle Mariners catcher and inherited Murphy's at-bat with a 1-2 count. Raleigh went on to hit a double due to a miscue between right fielder Aaron Judge and center fielder Greg Allen, who is an injury replacement for Harrison Bader.
Even Yankees television personality Gary Sheffield Jr. argued in favor of the Seattle Mariners' catcher on Twitter:
"Umpires absolutely stink. You blow the call, now you eject a player that’s upset you changed his at bat? It’s gotten out of control."
Umpires absolutely stink. You blow the call, now you eject a player that’s upset you changed his at bat? It’s gotten out of control
https://t.co/JFYDuMvLIw
Seattle Mariners still struggling this season
The Mariners are still struggling to maintain any kind of momentum this season. The team had won six of its past seven games to bring its record to a season-best three games over .500 before the Yankees came to town for the current three-game series.
However, New York has pounded the Mariners by a combined 20-6 score over the first two games of the series to drop Seattle back to 28-27 headed into Wednesday's series finale.