Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras’ evening came to an early and rather shocking end during Monday’s game against the Washington Nationals.
After first base umpire Nic Lentz called him out on a failed check swing for strike three in the second inning, Contreras showed his displeasure by tapping his helmet on the way back to the dugout. While he didn’t say anything, tapping the helmet is the action a batter makes when challenging a ball or strike call from the home-plate umpire.
A failed check swing is not something he could challenge, especially in that timeframe, and Lentz responded accordingly with the quick ejection.
He then explained it to the pool reporter:
The ejection didn’t stop the Red Sox from pushing six runs across the board in the first three innings to seize a commanding lead. Three of those runs came on a Contreras home run, and he was emotional after his first-inning long ball:
Andruw Monasterio entered the game for Contreras following the ejection.
