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Madison Bumgarner declined the chance to talk with umpire Dan Bellino following ejection

May 4, 2022; Miami, Florida, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) gets taken out of the game after getting ejected from the game during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park.
May 4, 2022; Miami, Florida, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) gets taken out of the game after getting ejected from the game during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park.

Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner is dwelling on Wednesday’s ejection.

Instead, he found issue with the fallout from the events after right-hander Corbin Martin was optioned to Reno on Friday. Following Bumgarner’s ejection in the bottom of the first inning, Martin came right in and posted four innings of relief.

Martin only gave up two earned runs on three hits and kept the Diamondbacks in a position to win after a bizarre beginning that stemmed from umpire Dan Bellino doing a foreign substance check on Bumgarner. During the examination, Bellino did not look at Bumgarner’s hands and instead looked at Bumgarner throughout the process. Bumgarner was then ejected after directing profanities at Bellino.

“I’ve moved on, it didn’t matter. It matters more to me about guys like Corbin and then maybe the chance of that happening to someone else,” Bumgarner said.

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Bellino did issue an apology through the league on Friday for his actions, but did not specifically mention Bumgarner in the apology. He instead said he would take “full accountability” and would “learn from the incident.”

More: Umpire issues apology for incident with Madison Bumgarner

“It wasn’t directed at me, which is fine. I don’t need an apology. Corbin Martin needs an apology. He was forced to come in and threw four innings and then unfortunately there’s too many days off where we need a pitcher, so now he’s in Triple-A. That affected him in a much bigger way than it affected me,” Bumgarner said.

Bumgarner did mention Bellino tried to apologize directly to him, but Bumgarner declined.

“There was an old friend of mine who reached out and asked if I was open to that, but I don’t see the need. I’m not holding a grudge against him. It is what it is. I’ve moved and am trying to worry about my next start,” Bumgarner said.

The ejection could have caused a ripple in the Diamondbacks’ rotation with Bumgarner only getting 13 pitches in Wednesday’s start. However, the coaching staff has not made any plans of his next scheduled start to be moved up.

“Whatever Torey (Lovullo) and (Brent) Strom felt best with, I was good with. Whatever works best. Our starters are definitely on a good deal right now and everybody is throwing the ball good. I imagine we don’t want to mess with that too much. As far as I know right now, it’s normal rest,” Bumgarner said.

The Diamondbacks’ starting pitching has excelled early in the season. Merrill Kelly leads the way with an ERA of 1.22, the lowest in MLB. Kelly is coming off almost getting a complete game in his third win of the season on Friday’s 4-1 win. Zac Gallen (1.27) and Bumgarner (1.50) have not been far behind Kelly either. The Diamondbacks have won four of its last five games.

Bumgarner is focused on winning, but he’s also focused on how this incident can prevent others from being affected around the league.

“My main concern was after we got out of that, our player getting sent down because he has to have too many days off where we can’t bear that with the bullpen right now. That and making sure it don’t happen to someone else. I feel like I owe that to the players around the league,” Bumgarner said.

Short hops

  • Catcher Carson Kelly missed his second straight game and was diagnosed with a Grade 1 oblique strain Saturday, according to Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovul. Kelly had imaging done before Saturday’s game and his status will not be known until Sunday. Daulton Varsho made the start at catcher for the third time in Saturday's game after playing 25 games at center field.

Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com or 602-647-4122. Follow her on Twitter @jennarortiz.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Madison Bumgarner declined talking with MLB umpire after ejection