Don Kelly didn’t hide from the moment Sunday night at PNC Park. When the Pirates manager got run in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 27, it came after a pair of checked-swing calls on Bryan Reynolds that set him off.
Third base umpire Ben May ruled both of Reynolds’ check swings strikes, and Kelly was ejected after arguing the second call. Kristopher Negrón took over as acting manager the rest of the way, and Pittsburgh still pulled out a 3-2 win in extra innings.
After the game, Kelly said he didn’t believe Reynolds went around on the first swing, while he was more willing to leave room for the second. He also said he wasn’t sure whether he said anything that triggered the ejection, though he believed May was already looking toward the dugout after the second call.
"Yeah, I did not think Bryan swung," Kelly said. "I thought he held up on the first one.
Second one was a little bit closer, and just thought that Ben was looking in the dugout already. I don't even think I said anything.
I might have put my hands up on the second one, but I did not think he went for sure on the first one."
The Pirates still found a way to finish the job. Reynolds later delivered an RBI-double that scored second baseman Brandon Lowe to tie the game at 2-2, and Lowe then came through again with the game-winning single in the 10th inning.
Kelly watched the rest of the game from his office, but he made clear how much he appreciated the way his club kept battling. Pittsburgh’s bullpen covered 4.2 scoreless innings, and Kelly pointed to the effort as a big part of the win as the Pirates try to keep pace in the National League Wild Card race.
"Yeah, that's tough," Kelly said. "I want to be out there with the guys, and unfortunately, I couldn't be today.
They did an awesome job of battling back, tying it, and then keeping it there. [Gregory Soto] did a great job.
[Ron] Marinaccio was great, and Soto and then [Mason Montgomery]
"Just to be able to come back and win that game - especially after [Esmerlyn Valdez] gets hurt. [Jared] Triolo had a big at-bat with the walk.
Valdy gets hurt, and I think it just speaks to the way the team has competed all year. It's just next man up.
Let's keep on going and find a way."
The ejection was Kelly’s fourth of the season, and his first in about two months. He had been tossed twice in a three-game span in late May, first in a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on May 23 and then in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on May 25.
Against Toronto, Kelly argued after home plate umpire Alan Porter missed an ABS challenge from Pirates catcher Henry Davis, and pitching coach Bill Murphy was also ejected before him. Two days later against the Cubs, Kelly was thrown out after arguing that shortstop Konnor Griffin had been grazed on the helmet by a pitch, even though video showed that happened, and third base umpire Dan Bellino still ejected him.
Kelly’s first ejection came March 31 in an 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. That one also came over a check-swing call, when Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez was not ruled out despite going around and home plate umpire John Baker tossed Kelly in the eighth inning.
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