Blue Jays emotions cost them in 19-inning loss to Indians

Lost in Friday’s wild 19-inning game at Rogers Centre, which the Cleveland Indians eventually won 2-1, were three big ejections that likely aided their cause.

Throughout the course of the game, the Toronto Blue Jays lost first baseman Edwin Encarnacion, manager John Gibbons and catcher Russell Martin, all of whom were dismissed by home-plate umpire Vic Carapazza for arguing balls and strikes.

Encarnacion was the first to go after striking out looking in his first at-bat of the game. He felt the pitch from Cleveland’s Josh Tomlin was off the plate, and then lost it when Carapazza rang him up. Encarnacion dropped his bat and threw his hands into the air before getting right in the umpire’s face.

During the argument, Encarnacion appeared to nudge Carapazza with his chest, which is something Major League Baseball will certainly review for potential disciplinary action.

That led to the ejection of Gibbons, who ran out to protect Encarnacion. The ejection is Gibbons’ sixth of the season, which by far leads baseball. In fact, he’s on a pretty ridiculous pace.

We can’t say Gibbons’ doesn’t have his player’s backs.

In the 13th inning, Martin would join them in the clubhouse after he too disagreed with Carapazza. In fact, Martin may have been the most heated of the three, requiring both bench coach DeMarlo Hale and third-base coach Luis Rivera to hold him back. It was an unceremonious exit for the Canadian-born Martin on Canada Day, and perhaps one that wasn’t warranted based on Martin’s postgame comments.

“I had that pitch being away. Then he (Carapazza) said I don’t want to hear it. I was like, it’s still away, and as I walked away he kinda threw me out of the game. I wasn’t being aggressive. I didn’t tell him that he sucked personally. I didn’t tell him that he was bad. I didn’t do anything like that. All the things that everybody in the ballpark was thinking, I didn’t say that.”

Sometimes keeping it cordial isn’t enough. Especially when the 13th inning rolls around and everyone’s patience is wearing thin. That seems to be the main problem during his battle. Though Martin did appear to be in better spirits a short time later.

It is a game, after all. Though Martin and the Blue Jays would have loved to win in front of a raucous Rogers Centre crowd, there were more important things to be celebrated come Friday night.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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