SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joey Votto and manager David Bell of the Cincinnati Reds were ejected in the first inning Saturday following a heated argument with home plate umpire Ryan Additon after Votto was called out on a checked swing.
A Padres fan sitting in the expensive seats near the Reds dugout also was tossed. The Padres won 7-5.
Catcher Webster Rivas appealed after Votto offered at the high, outside pitch from Miguel Diaz, and third base umpire Chris Guccione confirmed that Votto went around.
Votto was unhappy and began arguing, and Bell came out of the dugout and joined the argument. Bell and coaches Delino DeShields and Freddie Benavides had to keep Votto away from Additon, who then ejected the player and the manager, although Bell didn't realize right away that he had been tossed.
Votto had to be restrained as he continued to argue. Shortly after Votto went to the dugout, the fan was ejected. Bell went back to the dugout and said he was preparing to resume managing the game when he was called back out and told by the umpires that he had been ejected, too.
“I just went out to try to keep Joey in the game. That was my goal,” Bell said. “I didn’t get the job done there.”
Crew chief Jim Reynolds, the second base umpire, said Votto was ejected because of his response to the checked swing.
“His actions were clear. He just lost control,” Reynolds said. “I’m not quite sure what was said. I didn’t get there in time for the ejection. Certainly, Joey’s actions, to me, called for an ejection at that point."
Reynolds said Bell didn't realize right away that he had been ejected, too.
“This would be confusing, right? I completely understand this,” Reynolds said. The umpire said that by the time he joined the fray at the plate, he knew someone had been ejected but wasn't sure who.
“Both of those guys are intense guys. As I’m trying to get David off the field, his actions are certainly ejectionable," Reynolds said. "Not knowing he had been ejected when play was about to start and I saw him over there, I had to go and address the fact that didn’t know that he’d been ejected or to tell him that he was ejected based on his actions during the argument, not based on his actions after the argument, but based on the actions during the argument.”
Reynolds said he had security remove the fan for “engaging in a very aggressive manner.”
The Reds sent an autographed ball to a young girl who was attending her first big league game and said Votto was her favorite player.
Votto wrote, “I am sorry I didn't play the entire game” next to his autograph.
While the drama unfolded near home plate, Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. lounged on the grass in shallow left field. Tatis later left the game after reinjuring his left shoulder diving for an RBI single by Tyler Naquin.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
