Gavin Sheets isn't innately combative of umpiring calls, especially to an animated degree.
But, against the Guardians on Wednesday, he grew particularly agitated at the home plate umpire, Dan Iassogna, for calling a brutally low pitch a strike to strike him out.
The ball is clearly below the zone and it feels as if the umpire was duped by David Fry's framing in the outside corner. Iassogna called the strike well after the ball was caught.
Sheets rightfully got in Iassogna's face, pleading his poor strike call against him. Pedro Grifol followed with an additional argument. Iassogna threw Sheets out of the game, marking his first career ejection.
"It was just a build-up of things. They've got an extremely difficult job, but I've got to protect myself too. Last two nights, it just built up."
If you followed the broadcast closely, Joe Kelly pitched a relatively low sinker during the subsequent at-bat, close to, if not the same height as Curry's fastball to Sheets, and Iassogna called the pitch a ball. In the corner of the broadcast, viewers can see Grifol shouting at Iassogna to keep an equilibrium between his calls.
This is not the first instance this season that Iassogna has been pegged for a horrid strike call. On Opening Day, in fact, several outlets wrote about his brutal strike call during a Blue Jays-Cardinals contest.
Some umpires miss by centimeters or minute inches. Iassogna missed by 6.24 inches on this call, awarding Adam Cimber a strike for a well-outside breaking ball.
It's an unfortunate error in favor of the Guardians but a small bump in the Sox' path to defeating Cleveland on Wednesday. The White Sox notched their second straight win over their division foe, emerging victorious, 7-2.
MLB
Sheets had a solid night from the plate, all things considered. Despite strike calls not going in his favor, he slapped a home run out of the park for his third straight game with a hit.