PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- If you tuned in a little late, you already missed a game-changing decision made by umpire Brian Gorman who threw Josh Donaldson, Joe Musgrove and manager Clint Hurdle out of the game after Musgrove grazed Donaldson with a pitch and the two exchanged words and advanced toward each other in the bottom of the first inning.
Pirates broadcaster John Wehner joined The Fan Morning Show Tuesday to recap the baffling events.
"They were all calm. Donaldson was at first base, he seemed to be calmed down. Musgrove was on the mound, everybody seemed nice and calm. I was shocked. Everybody was shocked," said Wehner. "It's very hard to understand. These are grown ups and you know how intense Musgrove is. He's as intense as anybody and just the way that goes down, you've got adrenaline going, I mean they both just react and neither one of them is going to back down."
"But once it's over, it's over. They separated and that's that. It was so bizarre, I don't know if I've ever seen an umpire do that. Especially a veteran umpire that's been around so long who knows the consequences of getting the pitcher out of there in the first inning."
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Is there bad blood here between the Pirates and Braves that we don't know about?
"No way. I don't think so. I don't see any history here. Boys will be boys, some guys are a little more aggressive than others. I don't see how there would be any reason whatsoever to keep an eye on the Pirates and Braves as if something was going on. It was just a bizarre night, just something crazy. I think we would have all known in one way, shape or form if there was some bad blood or something brewing or something behind the scenes that they had to worry about it."
On top of the first inning ejections, Braves starter Kevin Gausman was caught yelling something at Pirates first base coach Kimera Bartee as he was coming off the field.
"From what I heard, Gausman said something that he thought that the Pirates are cheaters or something along those lines. I have no idea where that came from or what that's all about either. It was just a crazy, crazy night."
Wehner also speculated that maybe Mitch Keller found some extra motivation by not being called up for last Friday's start in Milwaukee instead of Rookie Davis and that might have played a role in him throwing a career-high 13 strikeouts in this last AAA start.
You can hear the entire interview with Pirates broadcaster John Wehner on The Fan Morning Show below.